


pink lemonade

by culture_forbids



Category: Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Pierce the Veil, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Angst, Blowjobs, Crack Treated Seriously, Eventual Smut, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Summer, Summer Camp, Summer Love, bi!tyler, lots of camper/counselor, pan!josh, they're all like highschoolers so the smut is technically underage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 04:07:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7919896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/culture_forbids/pseuds/culture_forbids
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh Dun has been coming to Camp Thicket since sixth grade, now that he's a senior it's time for him to become a counselor. He's ecstatic but gets even more excited when he meets his co-counselor:</p><p>Tyler Joseph, is forced to work this summer at Camp Thicket to "get back in touch with nature and himself" by his therapist. He's got a grudge against being here, but his cute co-counselor could make the summer bearable.</p><p>Pine trees, roasting marshmallows, a cabin filled with angsty teenagers, and little to no adult supervision is enough to make anyone have a great summer.</p><p>- updates once a week usually -</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. white flags are hoisted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So I started this fic like a couple weeks ago but I couldn't wait any longer to post the first chapter so here you go! Basically this is a josher summer camp fic where they're in charge of a cabin filled with highschool aged patrick, mikey, ryan, brendon, vic and jaime. it's a adorably messy shitshow so stay tuned :)

\---joshs pov---

I’m sitting in Gerard's car, some emo band blasting through his shitty speakers. Frank is sitting in shotgun, messing around on his phone. Mikey and I are shoved in the backseat, with barely any room to move because it’s so cramped with sleeping bags, clothing, snacks, and blankets.

I wiggle out my phone from my pocket and check the service.

Zero bars, we’re getting closer to Camp Thicket.

Tall spruce trees whiz past the tinted windows and the smell of fresh pine and sap are filling the car.

“How much longer Gee?” I call, feeling antsy from driving for nine hours. We left Columbus late last night and were approaching Oswegatchie New York quickly. 

“I dunno, maybe thirty minutes?” He replies, cranking up the music.

I sigh and shove my headphones in my ears, cranking up some indie band I kinda like. I watch the tall trees and wildlife zoom past the window. I tap idly on my knees, which are pressed uncomfortably against the back of Gerard's seat.

Mikey pinches my knee and I jerk my head away from the window. He motions for me to pull my headphone out. I do and give him a weird look.

“You ok Mikey?” I ask quietly. He nods.

“Yea, do you know how much longer we have?” The bleach blonde asks. 

“He literally just asked me, where were you?” Gerard shouts from the front. Mikey shrugs.

“Probably asleep,” He says.

“Probably thirty-ish minutes,” I say to Mikey. He nods and puts in headphone back in, leaning against the window and pulling his hoodie up over his head.

I put my headphone back in too and start to drift off to dreams of roasting marshmallows and skies filled with bright stars.

\--

I’m rudely awakened by Frank tugging me out of the car by the sleeve of my hoodie. I topple out and onto the gravel road by the entrance to the camp. I groan and stand up, punching Frank in the shoulder. He responds by tossing me my duffle and pillow. I grunt with the sudden weight and take a deep breath of clean mountain air. It smells like nature and campfires and crisp water. 

I spin around and take in my surroundings. The mess hall and locker rooms are placed around a big field with a bulletin board in the center. There is a large flag pole in the center of the field, next to the bulletin board, with the American and pride flag flying in the breeze.

They added the pride flag after the newest director came out as bi a couple years back, now Camp Thicket is known as one of the most LGBT friendly camps on the East coast.

My eyes continue to survey the land, picking out small things that have been changed since last summer here and there. Like some new picnic tables, a couple random signs and posters advertising clubs and activities to do over the summer. I look toward the tall looming forest and know there are hidden trails leading off to the cabins on the left of the field, and trails taking you down to the lake and Arts Hall on the right. 

Camp Thicket is also home to one of the deepest lakes in Western New York, which sounds cool but actually means it never really gets warm enough to swim for more than ten minutes. That and the splintery dock and leaky paddle boats just add to the charm of the place.

Frank, Gerard, and I have been coming here since sixth grade, and now that we’re seniors this is going to be our first year as counselors. Well, I’m counseling a cabin of campers and the others are running the Arts Halls. Mikey is still a sophomore so he’s not counseling with us this summer, but he’s destined to have a great time either way.

“I’m gonna go check the board to see who my partner in crime is,” I say with a smirk at the boys. They snicker, knowing full well that all the counselors are bound to hook up at least once with their co-counselor over the summer.

I wink and walk over to the bulletin board, my duffle slowing me down. My black doc martens squish in the damp field that hasn’t dried out completely from the rain earlier today. 

There are a couple kids around the board who look to be counselors too. They’ve all got the army green CAMP THICKET COUNSELOR shirts on, and I make a mental note to put mine on as soon as it’s time to greet the campers.

I push my way through to the front, and press my finger against the board, dragging it down until I see my name. 

My finger grazes against another and I look up into the big brown eyes of some cute guy. 

My heart flutters, I know I for sure will be living up to the counselor hook up stereotype this summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this doesn't have a update day set yet since school just started for me, but i'll try to upload the next chapter before monday!
> 
> (also ik this chapter is short, the others are like 2k each don't worry!)


	2. you hold the key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a cute intro chapter. I couldn't get it how I wanted it during editing so it's a bit wonky, enjoy though!  
> -sophia

\-- tylers pov--

I’m standing at the bulletin board, searching for my name to see which cabin I’m in and who I’m counseling with. I’m trying not to be bitter at the fact I’m here in the first place, when suddenly I feel someone’s finger brush against mine. I look over to see some guy with bright red hair looking at me. I avert my glance quickly and retract my hand from the weather-worn board.

He’s kinda cute, I think to myself as I try to come up with something smart to say.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t see you there,” I mumble, still looking at the board. I see my name next to “Josh Dun - Cabin Blue Jay”. I nod to myself and go to turn away, when a hand grabs my wrist. I whip around and see the guy with bright red curls holding my arm.

The wind in gently tousling his ruby waves and the skyline of pine trees frame his head like a gnarled crown. I take a moment to appreciate him. He has warm chocolate brown eyes, and a swirl of color winding up the arm that's holding mine. I also notice his black gauges and a small silver hoop in his nose glimmering in the midday sunshine.

“Dude, wait for me!” He says, a mischievous look in his eyes. I can tell confusion is very evident on my face by the way he grins. “I’m Josh Dun, and I’m assuming you’re Tyler Joseph right?” He asks, smiling again to reveal a set of pearly white teeth.

I grin to myself inside, kinda excited I get to spend the whole summer with this guy. It might make up for the fact I was sent here to ‘get in touch with my emotions’ by my therapist and parents. They think the forest might be a good place for me to deal with my emotional baggage for some reason. I don’t know how arts n’ crafts and paddle boats with help with my suicidal tendencies, but I’m here nonetheless.

“Yea, that’s me. Do you mind letting go of my wrist?” I ask, eyeing up his hand which is still tight around my wrist. He lets go.

“Dude sick tattoos, what do they mean?” He asks. I tug down the sleeve of my hoodie over my wrists and bite my lip with anxiety.

“Eh nothing, I’ll tell you later maybe if you tell me about yours, we do have all summer,” I say, trying to crack a joke and get the subject off my tattoos. They’re very simplistic but their meaning isn’t. I wouldn’t feel comfortable casually telling him the depressing topic they represent in the middle of our first interaction.

“Alright man, do you know where you’re going? You seem kinda lost,” Josh laughs, pulling his duffle bag up over his shoulder. I shake my head, trying not to flush with embarrassment. Do I really look that out of place here?

“No worries, follow me! I’ve been coming here since sixth grade,” He says cheerily, starting to walk towards across the field. I follow his relaxed pace and admire the way his hair and nose ring glimmers in the sunshine. He takes a deep breath of the fresh air and closes his eyes in satisfaction as we walk. It smells like pond water and tree sap, a unique but great perfume.

Suddenly he takes a sharp left as we pass the log cabin-eqsue mess hall, which smells like green beans and mashed potatoes. I grimace, not excited for camp meals.

We start down a heavily stamped down dirt trail, which leads us straight into the thick forest. Josh quietly hums as he expertly dodges stray roots and rocks, like he owns the place. It’s quite endearing how much he seems to enjoy this camp. I, on the other hand, am not enjoying it as much. I keep almost tripping over random debris in the path and I’m positive I have about six mosquito bites so far.

“So, what brings you to Camp Thicket?” Josh asks, out of nowhere a little bits into the trek.

“My parents thought I needed to get some fresh air, so they shipped me up here for the summer,” I grumble, as cabins start appearing a little ways off the trail to the left and right.

“Dude, you’re gonna love it here don’t worry, it’s like the best place on Earth,” He says reassuringly, shooting me one of his heartwarming smiles.

He takes a gently right and leads me down a less walked short pathway towards a small log cabin.

“Welcome to your home away from home Tyler,” He grins, gesturing towards the cobweb and pine needle encrusted house.There is a very small clearing in from of the house with a rock fire pit and some logs around it. Also some pegs in the ground for a tent I assume.

I force a smile for his sake and he leads me up the steps to the door. He digs in his pocket before pulling out a key attached to a friendship bracelet. He jams it into the screen door and yanks it open with a horrible screeching sound.

I grit my teeth and follow him in.

It’s cozy inside. There are two sets of bunk beds on one side, two dressers on the other, with a couple of plastic crates on top of them that are filled with blankets and pillows and bunk beds on either side of the bureaus. There is also a small cabinet and two rocking chairs shoved in one corner. A rug is rolled up and leaned against the cabinet, and all the beds are covered in plastic tarps.

“Shit, I can’t believe Dallon didn’t set up anything,” Josh groans, dropping his duffel and pillow on the floor. I follow suit.

“Who’s Dallon?” I ask.

“One of the other counselors. He usually comes a couple days ahead of everyone else and sets up the cabins because they don’t give counselors much time to get ready before the kids come on the first day,” He replies.

“Ok, so should we set up or wait for him?” I ask, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the state of the cabin.

“We need to set up, the campers are gonna be here in like three hours!” Josh says, suddenly sounding stressed, his brown eyes looking anxious.

“Ok, what should I do first?” I ask, rolling up my sleeves, mentally preparing for all the spiders I’m gonna find whilst cleaning.

“Well we need to make the beds, and bring the plastic down to storage, also we need to clean the dressers and clean the deck,” Josh lists. I nod.

“Alright, I’ll set up the bed, because I actually know how to do that, and you can take the plastic and stuff down to storage?” I ask. Josh grins and nods.

“Great idea, let’s get a move on!” He says, his happiness back.

\--

An hour later, the four bunk beds are made, the deck has been swept and the rockers set out. The rug is shaken and rolled out, the dressers dusted and bins emptied, also the cabinet filled with camping essentials like s'mores ingredients and sunscreen. Josh is hanging up a band poster and rolling out a black sleeping bag on the top bunk of our bed. I don’t mind he’s got the top bunk, being on the bottom is more my speed anyways. The wooden beds are splintery but inviting none the less.

“Alright, this looks great Ty! Sorry, do you mind if I call you that?” Josh asks, suddenly looking embarrassed. I chuckle.

“Yea, feel free to call me Ty, only my friends really do, but I think we can consider ourselves friends after you had to rescue me from that mob of spiders earlier,” I laugh. Josh laughs too, and his eyes crinkle up making my heart twitch a little.

I hear a buzzing noise coming from the corner of the room and shush Josh quickly.

“What dude?” He asks, looking concerned.

“What’s that noise?” I ask, turning around and searching the ceiling until my eyes land on a suspicious lump in the wood. I squint and realize that it’s a small wasp nest. I screech and sprint out of the cabin and back onto the trail, the screen door clattering in my wake.

Josh runs out after me, looking super confused. He reaches me and places his hands on my shoulders. He stares me intently in my eyes.

“What the fuck!? Are you ok?” He asks. I blush.

“Erm... not really there’s a giant wasp nest in the one corner of the room,” I say, suddenly feeling super embarrassed. Josh’s face goes white.

“Shit, I hate wasps dude,” He says, frantically looking back and forth from the cabin to me.

“What do we do!?” I ask.

“I dunno? Maybe we should go get some wasp repellent or something?” Josh suggests.

“Good idea, where would that be though?” I ask.

“Probably at the counselor lodge, come on,” Josh says, grabbing my hand and leading me over to the trail.

I try to stop my heart from fluttering when his fingers lock with mine. I expect him to let go as soon as we start running, but he doesn’t.

Not that I’m complaining.

We race up the trail back towards the main field and mess hall. I almost trip a couple times, but Josh helps lead me expertly around the hazards. We reach the main field in under five minutes and quickly run down towards the path on the right of the field and begin sprinting down towards the lake. It comes into view quite quickly as well as a large building that’s covered in murals and has several wooden picnic tables set outside.

The pine trees surrounding the picnic tables have shattered piece of cds hanging from varying lengths of fishing wire on their branches. The whole thing is quite beautiful, but I don’t get to look too long before Josh pulls me off deeper down the trail into the woods again.

Finally, after I feel like my lungs are going to burst Josh stops in front of a small cabin with a sign labeled “COUNSELOR LODGE” hanging above the door. Josh lets go of my hand and leads me inside.

There is a wooden table, a couple bean bags, a beaten up couch, some shelves with bug spray and stuff in the back, and a tv haphazardly balancing on a pile of worn books.

A couple kids are lounging around, looking bored. A girl with shortish blonde waves picks her head up to look at us.

“Hey, Josh! Nice to finally see you, Frank said you were here but you ran off so fast he couldn’t tell where you went,” The girl laughs standing up. She quite pretty, with are as blue as the sky.

“Oh, hey Jenna! Sorry, I ran into Tyler a couple minutes after we arrived and then our cabin wasn’t put together so we had to do that,” Josh replies, slightly out of breath.

“No worries man, we got all summer! Also, it’s nice to meet you Tyler! I’m Jenna, the head counselor here,” She chirps, reaching out a hand. I take it and shake gently. She smiles and retracts her hand.

“Hey, I’m Tyler, I’m just counseling cabin Blue Jay with Josh,” I say, smiling nervously at her.

“Oh yikes, good luck with that. I heard Blue Jay is the toughest cabin this year,” She snickers. Josh and I exchange a nervous look.

“Do you have the camper list?” Josh asks.

“Nah, you’ll meet them in an hour or two though, so don’t worry,” She laughs, winking. I poke Josh lightly in the side to try to get him back on the reason we came here. He jolts and looks at me confused. I nod my head in the direction of the bug spray. His mouth makes a little “o” and he nods, turning back to Jenna.

“Oh, yea! Ok so there is a wasp nest in our cabin and we’re in desperate need of some wasp repellent or something,” Josh explains, waving his arms around widely to get his point across.

“Ew ok, I actually don’t think we have any yet. Mark usually brings that stuff tonight or tomorrow,” She explains. Josh sighs, running his hand through his scarlet locks.

“Well fuck, where are we supposed to put our campers tonight?” Josh asks.

“Dunno man, maybe you can you use hairspray or something and sleep outside for the night?” She suggests.

“Yea, I’m sure our cabin of adolescent males will have copious amounts of hairspray,” He scoffs. Jenna just shrugs.

“Ya never know,” She says happily. “Come on, you guys can deal with that later we’ve got lunch and then campers are arriving.” She motions for us to follow her out of the cabin and we do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for all the positive feedback on chapter one dudes! I just finished chapter 5 as we speak (technically it's still chapter four, but chp.4 is like 10 pages so I'm cutting in in half). I know I said Friday was going to be our upload day but I couldn't hold back I'm too excited! (Friday will be our update day moving forwards though!)  
> Anyways please leave comments/kudos/bookmarks! It means a lot <3
> 
> (p.s we're looking for beta readers for this fic so hmu if you want to be one!)


	3. i want to twist the structure of my average day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler and Josh meet the other counselors and their campers!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forewarning this chapter is very boring because it's just introductions but it's a necessary evil I guess :/  
> \--  
> if you notice any typos please let me know!

\---joshs pov---

Tyler and I finish eating in the mess hall, a couple minutes before the first campers arrive. He seems to have calmed down and is more comfortable interacting with me.

We already had orientation back before school ended when we had to come do interviews and stuff. Thankfully I didn’t have to drive all the way up here, and was able to just do it via Skype, because I was in the middle of exams. The only downside of missing orientation in person was the fact Tyler didn’t get an official tour of the camp and didn’t get to meet any of the other counselors before today. I can tell he’s a bit overwhelmed by it all by the way he’s fidgeting as I interact with all my friends from previous summers. I try to bring him into conversations but he manages to avoid all my advances slyly.

I’m in the middle of a heated debate with Jenna and Frank about who’s gonna get caught hooking up first in the Arts Hall, when Tyler coughs noisily and points at a girl who’s standing on a table trying to get our attention. It takes a second but I recognize it as the other camp director Debby. Her and I used to be really good friends, but then she couldn’t come to camp the first two summers she was in college so we lost touch.

The entire table shushes once she stomps her combat boot clad foot on the rickety table.

“Hey, everyone! So the campers should be arriving very soon, but I figured we should all do a quick ice breaker since I know a couple of you couldn’t come to orientation a couple weeks ago,” Debby says, her auburn waves swinging animatedly as she waves her arms when addressing us. “Alright, so basically go around and say your name, where you’re from, what your job is here, and why you’re here,” She explains, hopping off the table and walking over to our long table. She takes a seat next to Jenna and Jenna gives her a toothy grin. “To start, I’m Debby Ryan, I’m from Alabama but I’m attending Marist right now, I’m one of the Camp Directors and I’m here because I love wildlife and am a sucker for little kids,” She laughs.

“I’ll go I guess. I’m Jenna Black, I’m from Ohio, I’m the other Camp Director, and I’m here because this place is like my second home and I love it,” Jenna starts. The whole table politely claps and she blushes, ducking her head. She turns as looks to the person to her left.

“Hey, I’m Pete Wentz, I’m from Illinois, I’m the head lifeguard down at the lake, and I’m here because I’m all about helping kids not drown and stuff,” Pete says, throwing me a thumbs up. He and I shared a cabin one year when we were still campers and he always seemed like a cool dude. He has a black fringe that almost falls over his kohl smudged eyes.

He looks to Gerard next to him and pokes him. Gerard jolts his head up from his arms where he may or may not have been napping.

“Uh, hey I’m Gerard Way, I’m from Ohio, I’m one of the heads of the Arts Hall, and I’m here because I like teaching and sharing the joy of art,” He grins, clearly still half asleep. After we finish clapping he drops his head back into his arms. I feel his exhaustion, I was able to sleep on the way up but he’s been up and driving since like four am yesterday.

“Yo, I’m Frank Iero, I’m from Ohio as well, I’m the other head of the Arts Hall, and am here because I like art and camp so this is a win win,” Frank says, leaning back in his chair. A quick round of applause sounds.

“Hey, I’m Tony Perry, I’m from Tijuana but I’m going to NYU right now, I’m one of the Head Cooks and I’ve coming here since I was like twelve and I wanna give back to the camp,” The dark haired boy explains.

Tony and I were in the same cabin for couple years before he aged out of being a camper and became my counselor for a year. He didn’t love counseling too much, so he became a cook apprentice last year and apparently was promoted this year. He has a lot more tattoos then I remember him having last summer, and his long brown mohawk has grown out a little too long so he has a snapback over it.

“Hi! I’m Melanie Martinez, I’m from Astoria down in NYC, I’m the other lifeguard I guess, and I’m here because I really love summer camp but it’s generally frowned upon to enroll as a camper at age 19,” A girl with pink and purple hair laughs. I’ve never seen her before, she must be new. Her hair is unique and the colors are split evenly down the center of her head. She has a small gap in her front teeth and her big brown eyes are endearing.

“Uh hey, I’m Dallon Weekes, I’m from Missouri but I’m going to UB right now, I’m the head counselor and director of camp activities. I guess I’m here because this camp has always been here for me, so I want to be here for all the new kids,” Dallon says with a heartwarming smile. He’s also been coming here for as long as I can remember. He’s a couple years older than me, so we’ve never bunked together but we know each other fairly well, from co-age camping trips and field days.

Suddenly the door to the mess hall bangs open and a male figure stumbles in. He freezes when we all look up and stare at him. I recognize him as Mark and start laughing. Everyone joins in and he ducks his head and shuffles over, squeezing in next to me on the bench. After everyone calms down he whispers to me. “What are we doing?”

“Introducing ourselves, don’t worry you can go last,” I reply. He nods, tucking his shaggy brown hair into his blue hoodie. I look up to see everyone staring at me with encouraging eyes.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t realize it was my turn. Um, I’m Josh Dun, I’m from Ohio, I’m one of the counselors, and I’m here because this camp has been my home away from home for years,” I grin at the group of familiar faces around me. They all clap happily. I turn to look at Tyler nudging his shoulder gently.

“Hi, I’m Tyler Joseph, I’m from Ohio as well and I’m a counselor. I’m here because my parents thought it would be a good way for me to ‘get out and get in touch with nature’,” Tyler laughs, his eyes crinkling cutely.

“Woah, you’re from Ohio too! Sick! Which part!?” I ask eagerly. Tyler smiles at me.

“Columbus, you?” He asks.

“Dude no way, me too! Which school!?” I ask happily.

“Some lame public one, don’t worry I would know if we went to the same school,” He smirks at me. I nod, excited that I might actually be able to take my fantasies of a summer fling into a legit relationship. I zone out as the rest of the counselors introduce themselves. There are some people I recognize like Andy and Joe, also some new people like Mike and Hayley.

After we finish we all stand up and chat for a bit until someone sprints in yelling something about a “shit ton of little dudes with duffle bags”. Tyler and I exchange a nervous glance but walk out and towards the field which is now filled with cars and teary families. I tell Tyler to go hang out by the registration table while I go grab a sign with our cabin on it from Gerard and Frank.

I return with a huge piece of blue poster paper with our cabin name scrawled on it in glitter glue and sharpie. Apparently Frank decided all the signs looked better with glitter.

I run over to Tyler and we both hold up the sign above our heads. The fresh scent of pine needles and bug spray fill my nose and I feel my nerves relax a little bit until I notice a pair of boys walking over to us. They look tired and sweaty and suddenly I’m afraid I won’t have what it takes to run a cabin of six teenage boys.

“Hey, guys! Are you in Cabin Blue Jay?” I ask, praying they aren’t.

“Yea, I’m Brendon, this is Ryan,” The taller boy says nodding at us and pulling his duffle farther over his shoulder. Brendon has shaggy brown hair that lays on his forehead in a fringe. Ryan has a similar hairstyle but he's a bit shorter in general and looks a bit more excited.

“Cool, I’m Josh and this is Tyler,” I say gesturing over to Tyler who’s checking something off on his clipboard Mark brought him. We all stand and chat while campers flood out of cars and counselors run around looking like a stressed mess. I’m tempted to reach over and grab Tyler's hand because he looks really nervous but resists the urge.

After a couple minutes of small talk, another group of boys wanders over, looking eager and bouncing with energy. One is short with shoulder length black brown hair and a large fringe. Another has short and spiky brown hair with a bleach blonde fringe shoved up in a quiff like style. The last has shaggy red hair which is covered in a black fedora. I cringe a little inside at the sight of the fedora but force a smile on my face.

“Hey, guys! You’re all in Blue Jay?” Tyler asks, sounding a little anxious.

“Yea! I’m Vic, that’s Jaime, and I’m not sure who he is,” The boy with the long hair says. The redhead shuffles nervously.

“Um, I’m Patrick,” He says smiling shyly at everyone. Brendon and Ryan aren’t even paying attention because they’re waving their phones around frantically searching for bars.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Tyler and that’s Josh,” Tyler smiles sweetly at the boys. They barely have time to respond when Mikey sprints over looking out of breath.

“Hey, sorry I fell asleep in the Arts Hall and Gee didn’t wake me up,” He pants, bending over and putting his hands on his thighs.

“That’s Mikey,” I laugh gesturing at Mikey who’s bleach blonde bangs are falling into his face. He lifts a hand and waves absently.

“Alright guys, so there is a little bit of a hangup with our cabin but we can take our stuff down there anyways,” Tyler says.

“What’s the hangup?” Vic asks nervously.

“Um, I’ll tell you guys later come on,” Tyler averts, waving and turning towards the trails. He starts walking towards the wrong trail and I grab him by his shoulder and steer him the other way.

“Wrong way nerd,” I whisper into his ear. He shivers and shoots me daggers, a smirk under his scowl though.

“Gay,” I hear someone cough from behind us. I spin around and see all the boy snickering to themselves. I straighten myself and step away from Tyler. I offer to grab Brendon’s bag since it’s almost as big as him somehow. He nods eagerly and tosses it to me. I almost fall over with the weight but manage to regain my balance quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg guys this fic is already at like 10k because i keep over-writing the chapters so I might upload the fourth chapter tuesday or something bc i'm writing too much to only update once a week lmao.
> 
> anyways, i'm glad you guys are enjoying this fic! keep the nice comments/kudos/bookmarks coming! it means a lot xx


	4. fuck, he's hot part.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Really long and gross chapter that's more world building, sry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! I NEED A BETA READER! PLEASE COMMENT IF YOU WANNA HELP !!!  
>  \--  
> I know I said I'd post tuesday but I wasn't feeling ok this week so I decided to wait. Tbh I'm contemplating scraping this whole fic and rewriting but it's at like 12k so that'd suck! 
> 
> Anyways this chapter was originally like 12 pages but I cut it in half, so enjoy?

\---tylers pov---

We reach the cabin after several stops to tie shoelaces or to adjust bags and everyone is hot and sweaty. I mentally hope the walk down the hill will get easier over time and I can tell the kids hope that too.

We enter the small clearing around our cabin and everyone drops their bags. Ryan and Brendon collapse on the ground looking exhausted. Vic and Jaime are still bouncing around looking excitedly at our new surroundings.

“Man, this is gonna be the best summer ever,” Jaime cheers, shaking Vic. Vic nods in agreement and Josh and I share a small smile.

Maybe this summer won’t be as hellish as previously thought.

“Ok, so we can’t really go in until Mark shows up with wasp spray because there is a wasp nest in the cabin. We can hang out and play some games in the meantime though,” Josh suggests, plopping down with the boys.

“That is unless someone has hairspray they’re willing to donate to the good of the cabin,” I suggest looking at my campers with gravity defying hair styles. Jaime shoots his hand up in the air.

“I have some, one sec,” He calls dropping down and rifling through his beaten up duffle. After a couple seconds of searching, he pulls out a bottle of Got2B Glued hairspray and everyone cheers.

“Now, who’s gonna kill them?” Josh asks. Everyone goes silent and we all exchange nervous looks.

“I’ll do it, I’m not scared of wasps,” Mikey says, reaching for the spray. We all encourage him in, not wanting to go in there ourselves. “Where is it?”

“Um in the upper left-hand corner I think,” Josh says, gesturing vaguely towards the building. Mikey nods and runs up the steps and into the house, the screen door clattering after him. There is a couple moments of silence then a yelp from inside. Josh bolts up and looks around nervously. He’s about ready to run into the cabin when Mikey pushes open the door grinning widely.

“We’re officially wasp free gentlemen,” He says smirking. The boys cheer and grab their things, filing into the cabin. There is a cluster of dead wasps in the one corner and the nest looks like it’d been smashed with something. I grimace and make a mental note to clean that up later.

Vic and Jaime yell excitedly and claim their bunks. Patrick walks over quietly and puts his stuff on one of the bottom bunks. Mikey throws his backpack on the bed above him and shoots Patrick a smile. Patrick smiles back warmly and begins to unroll his sleeping bag.

Ryan and Brendon take the remaining bed with Ryan on the bottom and Brendon sprawled out on the top bunk. Josh and I hang out on my bunk chatting whilst the kids set up their zones with posters and pictures on the walls and sleeping bags and colorful blankets on their beds. Ryan and Brendon fold their clothes and put them in the drawers of the dresser. Vic and Jaime just shove their duffels under Jaime’s bed. Mikey and Patrick do a mix of putting their stuff in drawers and leaving it in their bags. Somehow all the boys have black or gray sleeping bags, and they all joke we’re the ‘emo cabin’ not the ‘blue jay cabin’. They only add to the joke when half of them pull crumpled band posters out of their bags and place folded band tees in their respective drawers.

After a couple minutes of them fighting over sticky tack and who gets the softest pillow, Josh clears his throat to get everyone's attention.

“Alright guys, you wanna play a game or something before dinner later?” I ask, turning away from Josh to look at the boys. They’re all sprawled out on each other's bunks chatting or scrolling through their phones.

“Yea sure,” Jaime says, sitting up looking excited.

“Ok, why don’t we do like play an icebreaker so we can get to know each other?” Josh suggests, standing up and sitting down on Patrick's bunk.

“Yea! Should we like make a circle or something?” Vic asks, looking very excited. I nod and run out to the porch to grab some folded lawn chairs for me and Josh. I bring them in and put them in front of the kid's bunks. The bunks are set up so two are on one wall and the other is against the wall with the dressers, with my bed on the other side of that, so it wouldn’t work with me and Josh on my bed.

I sit down and motion for the boys to spread out on the beds so it’s more like a circle.

“Ok, so why don’t we go around and say our names, what grade we’re in, and what state you come from? I’ll start. I’m Tyler, I’m going into senior year, and I’m from Ohio,” I say, patting Josh on the thigh to indicate he should go next.

“Alright, I’m Josh, I’m also going into twelfth grade, so I’m 18, and I’m from Ohio too,” Josh grins.

“Um hey, I’m Brendon, I’m going into eighth grade so I’m thirteen, and I’m from Pennsylvania,” Brendon says, looking at everyone in turn.

“I’m Ryan, I’m also going into eighth grade so I’m thirteen, and I’m from Pennsylvania too. Brendon and I go to school together so yea,” Ryan mumbles looking at the ground, blushing a bit.

“I’m Mikey, I’m going into sophomore year and I’m fifteen, I’m from Ohio,” Mikey says giving a quick wave to us.

“I’m Vic, I’m fourteen and I’m going into ninth grade, I’m from California,” Vic says cheerily, playfully nudging Jaimes' arm.

“Yo! I’m Jaime, I’m also a ninth grade so I’m obviously fourteen, and I’m from California too, Vic and I go to the same school too,” Jaime says bubbly. Everyone turns their attention to Patrick who is sitting alone on his bunk looking uncomfortable.

“Hi, I’m Patrick but you can call me Pat I guess. I’m going into tenth grade so I’m fifteen and I’m from Illinois,” He mumbles quietly.

“Nice guys! So it looks like we’ve got people for all grades here,” Josh says happily.

“Well, if you guys want we could go for a hike around the camp maybe?” I suggest, looking at Josh hopefully. He nods, standing up and nodding.

“Alright campers, let’s hit the trails and get you guys extra hungry for dinner,” He laughs. Vic and Jaime jolt up, hurrying to pull on their vans and snapbacks. Ryan and Brendon groan in unison but get up and pull on their sneakers. Patrick and Mikey also put on shoes and Mikey grabs a worn hoodie from the end of his bed.

I look over and see Josh.

Shit.

Josh isn’t wearing a shirt. He’s leaning over, rifling through his drawer looking for his camp shirt and my breath hitches in my throat. I take in his toned abs and biceps, the way his tattoo blends nicely up into his shoulders and shit. I turn around quickly and speed walk out of the cabin calling something about needing bug spray.

Vic and Jaime run out after me and we speed out to the porch. I walk over to the chest filled with bug spray and fire starting materials and take a couple breaths to calm down.

After a couple moments, I pop up and holding two bottles of bug spray and see the whole cabin filing out and down into the little clearing in front of the cabin. I toss the bug spray over the railing to Mikey, who barely catches it and then squirts some at Brendon who’s snickering behind him. I roll my eyes and join them.

I stand next to Ryan in the back and wait for Josh to start leading the way. I notice he’s now, in fact, wearing his camp shirt and I’m relieved but also upset. He’s also chatting with Patrick who looks a little more comfortable.

Finally, Josh starts walking after everyone is thoroughly doused in chemicals. As we begin our trek Ryan hip checks me.

“What the hel-?” I cut myself off, worried swearing is against counselor by-laws or something.

“So Josh huh?” He asks innocently. I give him a weird look.

“What about him?” I ask, as we get onto the main trail and Josh leads us further into the woods, away from the main field.

“You like him don’t you?” He whispers and I choke. Josh stops and turns around to look at me. I choke again and quickly spin around hiding my flushed face.

“You ok Ty?” He calls from the front of the group. I hold up a thumbs up, he chuckles and keeps walking. I whip around and give Ryan a mean glare.

“I do not like him for your information,” I quip at the preteen. He raises his eyebrows suggestively but doesn’t say anything. I square my jaw. “I just met him today too, it’s impossible to be attracted to someone within the first like six hours of knowing them,” I grumble, crossing my arms across my chest.

Ryan holds up his hands in surrender and jogs up to walk next to Brendon. I fume quietly to myself as we continue our walk.

The woods are very peaceful, and the smell of pine needles and food cooking in tin pots fills the air. I don’t know where Josh is taking us, probably a sneaky backway or something.

I scuff my toe on the dirt under them. Maybe I do kinda like Josh? It’s only been like six hours or something stupid, but suddenly camp isn’t seeming like a punishment, more like a fun opportunity with cute guys who have really nice abs, and colorful hair and -

“Tyler!?” Someone calls waving a hand in front of my face. I jerk back to reality and stop walking, looking around confused.

“What!?” I ask incredulously. Josh comes into focus, standing in front of me looking at me with a playfully confused look.

“You totally zoned out, I came back here and was chatting with you and you were just totally in space,” He laughs. I blush and duck my head.

“Sorry, I do that sometimes,” I say shyly, scratching the back of my head modestly.

“It’s ok man,” Josh beams and my heart beats faster.

“Come on lovebirds!” Ryan shouts from the pack of our campers much farther up the trail than us.

“I’m gonna throw you in the lake Ross if you don’t watch yourself!” Josh calls, but nods for us to start walking again. I hear the boys snickering as we continue padding down the trail.

I can hear birds chirping, and somewhere off I hear the lapping of water against something.

“Are we near the lake or something?” I ask Josh.

“Yea, the trail is set up in a big circle basically. The field is at the front and the trails take you either down to the lake or down to the cabins, but if you keep walking they meet up by the docks on the other side of the lake,” Josh smiles.

“Good to know,” I say, as a huge dark blue, almost black lake appears. The edge of it’s lined with tall spruce trees that soar into the clear sky, and there is a dirt trail surrounding the curving perimeter of the water. There is also a small little island smack in the center with a small dock and a handful of trees. I look to my left and see that a ways down there is the beach and the edge of the Arts Hall poking out of the trees.

I’m brought back to reality when I turn and see Josh sprinting towards the water yelling something about how if Jaime doesn’t put his shirt and shoes back on this instance we’re not having s'mores tonight. I figure I should join him and help wrangle Vic and Jaime who have basically stripped and were sprinting towards the water's edge.

I sigh and jog down to the shore grabbing Vic by the arm and hauling him up to the shore. He’s whining but reluctantly pulls back on his shirt and shoes. Josh has Jaime slung over his shoulder who is whining and laughing at the same time. Mikey and Patrick are talking quietly, pointing across the lake at some dude on the beach. I squint but I can’t make out who it is.

“Alright that’s it, we’re going to the Arts Hall until dinner,” I hear Josh scolding Jaime and Vic.

“You heard the man, let's go scrubs,” I call, turning and leading the group down the trails towards the Arts Hall.

Josh jogs up next to me and rests his arms and chin on my shoulders, so his mouth grazes against my neck.

“Scrubs?” He whispers into my ear grinning. I bat him away, trying to hide my blush.

“Shut up,” I grumble.

“Nah, it was good, we gotta keep everything cool and relatable with the kids,” He says in a fake skate voice. I let out a laugh and shove him playfully. We continue walking in comfortable chatter, the boy's behinds us joking and pushing each other around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *bangs fists on table* i hate the way this fic is going !!11!!!1!
> 
> idk it's taking forever to lift off which is good because in most of my fics within 5k they're like married with seven kids so this is good?? but it also seems boring as hell for you guys, so my dearest apologies :/  
> \--  
> !!! I NEED A BETA READER! PLEASE COMMENT IF YOU WANNA HELP !!!


	5. fuck he's hot part.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second part of chapter four! It's just a little fluffy drabble but I was too attached to it to cut it so have it :'))

\---tylers pov---

After a couple minute walk around the perimeter of the pond we reach the beach and turn right up towards the large Arts Hall. 

It’s a huge log cabin, with two huge windows facing the lake through the opening in the trees. As we enter the smell of paint and glue hits me like a wall. I look over and see Gerard and Frank lying on the small stage in the one corner laughing about something.

Josh clears his throat and they jolt up. 

“Hey dudes!” Franks says, waving us over. I hear the kids rushing over and they all clamber ungracefully up onto the elevated platform.

“Who invited you?” Gerard scoffs at Mikey, who just flips him off in return. Gerard gasps in mock astonishment and they laugh.

“What are you guys doing here?” Frank asks, pushing his longish black hair out of his face.

“We went for a walk, but _some kids_ couldn’t stay out of the water,” Josh says, looking pointedly at Vic and Jaime. They snicker and I can see Josh holding back a smirk.

“Well what do you guys want to do? We’ve got like an hour to kill before dinner,” Gerard says.

“I dunno, what are our options?” I ask, looking around at the large room. There are a couple tables in one corner with little caddies filled with colored pencils and paintbrushes. There’s also another corner with some bean bags shoved into a mountain with a couple guitars and a ukelele hanging up above them. The big windows facing the water have long strings hung over them with clips to hang up campers artwork later on. There’s also a wall with cabinets and shelves that are littered with art supplies, costumes, and random musical instruments.

I look at my campers who look equally as impressed by the place as I am.

“Well, we could do some art or play some music, or we could just chill,” Frank says. I look at Josh who just shrugs.

“Alright, you guys can just hang out until dinner I guess,” I say. The boys immediately jump up and sprint in different directions. Vic and Jaime run over to the guitar corner and start fiddling with them excitedly. Mikey and Patrick go and sit at a table next to the window. I notice them both pointing every once and awhile at something on the beach but ignore it. Ryan and Brendon walk over to the music corner to grab some beanbags which they drag over by the stage where they plop themselves down.

Josh scooches over closer to me and sighs loudly.

“What?” I ask looking at him suspiciously. He just shrugs.

“I dunno man, I’m just tired,” He says.

“Why it’s not even six?” I laugh as he leans over to rest his head on my shoulder. He's like a big puppy and it's adorable.

“We left Columbus at like 4am this morning and have been up since so we’re all pretty sleepy,” Gerard says. 

“Oh wow, I left a day early and just hung out in Rochester with my Aunt until it was time to come up,” I say. 

“Lucky, I’m exhausted,” Frank groans, rubbing at his bagged eyes. Gerard squeaks incredulously.

“Really? You slept like the entire way up! You literally drove for like a half an hour,” He quipes, pushing Frank over. Frank just giggles and spreads out again on the stage. 

Josh’s head is still on my shoulder and I wonder why he’s not contributing to the conversation. I peer down at him and see he’s dead asleep. I look up at Gerard and Frank probably a terrified look on my face. Gerard laughs but Frank jumps back up and shushes him

“Let the dude sleep Gee,” He chuckles quietly, a finger pressed over Gerards lips. Gerard waves away his hand.

“What do I do!?” I whisper yell in panic at the boys. They look at each other and shrug.

“I dunno, just hang out until it’s time to go I guess,” Frank says. As he finishes his sentence Josh grumbles something and flops his head from my shoulder into my lap, curling up like a cat. Gerard and Frank “awwww” quietly and I can feel a blush creeping up my cheeks. 

“We’re gonna go get Vic and Jaime to do some crafts so he can nap,” Gerard says, patting Josh on the head before creeping off the stage with Frank, and over to Vic and Jaime who are attempting to tune the guitars and failing miserably. 

I look down at the sleeping boy in my lap and my heart flutters. His mouth is open slightly and his hair is all over the place.

He’s such a cute napper.

I reach down and run my fingers through his curls, careful to make sure no one is watching. He makes a noise of happiness and sort of nuzzles against my hand. I bite my lip to hold back a laugh and turn away to look at everyone who’s attempting to make portraits of each other out of macaroni. 

I notice Mikey wave at someone who looks like maybe Pete outside, who waves back smiling. After a couple moments, the doors open to the Hall and he walks in.

“Hey, sorry do you guys mind if I hang out here? Nobody is actually swimming so...” He trails off when Gerard spazzily makes a cutting motion at his neck to silence him. Frank points at me and Josh on the stage and I wave awkwardly, Josh snoring slightly in my lap. Pete smirks and gives me a suspicious look. I just shrug.

Mikey flags Pete over, who happily obliges and plops down next to him. They two start whispering and laughing, clearly they’ve hung out in the past and they seem to get along pretty well. 

Gerard elbows Frank and points at them, looking kinda upset. Frank raises an eyebrow but goes back to helping Jaime glue down some pieces of pasta on his paper.

\--

After what seems like an eternity of the guys whispering to each other and me observing while Josh snores in my lap a trumpet goes off over the PA system around camp, signaling dinner is ready.

Josh jolts up, looking around confusedly. He turns to me and cocks his head in confusion.

“You fell asleep when we were talking, dork,” I explain, poking his arm. He looks half asleep still but flushes with embarrassment.

“Oh... oh my... geez I’m sorry Ty,” He flusters.

“You’re fine man, don’t worry you didn’t snore to loudly. I say, helping him up. Gerard, Frank, and Pete are already hustling the kids out of the Hall. I grab Josh’s hand and lead the sleepy boy carefully off the stage, since he looks totally out of it. He stumbles a bit on the step down, but I catch him.

“Come on dreamer boy, there’s delicious frozen mashed potatoes awaiting us,” I chuckle as he yawns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to my beta readers, you guys are the bomb <3  
> @Smore2025  
> @Equifish


	6. honey, you've got a big storm coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two chapters in one day?? you guys are lucky i was too lazy to put chp 4 pt.2 somehow into this one :ppp anyways enjoy and hopefully this will hold off your thirst until next friday <3

\---joshs pov---

I wake up, my arm hanging over the side of the bunk. I groan and sit up, pushing my red curls off my forehead. I’m sticky with sweat from the humid cabin air and I feel great. 

My first night at camp was pretty great. Besides the fact that the food sucked and we had wasps, it was good. I hung out with Tyler outside after everyone went to sleep and we played twenty questions. I learned that he has three siblings, just like me, and enjoys writing music. Which was pretty sick, and we even talked about maybe trying to make a few songs together this summer.

“Josh, I need your help,” Somebody whisper-yells from below my bunk. I grunt and stick my head over the side to see Tyler standing there looking up at me with his big doe eyes.

“What’s up Ty?” I ask.

“I forgot where the showers are, and I want to get ready before the guys wake up,” He whispers. I notice a towel slung over his shoulder and a shower caddy in his hand. I smirk and quietly clamber down the ladder. 

I’m only wearing some basketball shorts but I slip on some flip flops when I reach the ground. I can feel Tyler’s eyes on my back and smile to myself, happy to have the attention.

I motion for him to follow me, and I quietly sneak out the screen door. All the boys are still asleep, some curled tight into balls under their blankets and other spread eagle snoring loudly.

Me and Tyler sneak out into the clearing, and I notice that the ground is soft. All the trees are sluggishly dripping water onto each other. It must’ve rained last night which explains the out of the ordinary humid air. Everything smells fresh and clean though, and I’m very happy to take a early morning stroll through the damp woods with a cute boy.

“Sorry, I know I should know where I’m going but I got turned around like, up here. I accidently almost walked into another cabin,” Tyler sheepishly says. 

“It’s cool bro, you’ve been here for like twenty four hours,” I smile as we start the walk up the muddy trail.

“Yea, ok,” Tyler says shrugging. “Wait, shouldn’t we have left someone with the kids?” He gasps, suddenly looking around in panic. I chuckle and wave away his worries.

“Nah, when I was a camper my counselors were hardly around unless we had an activity,” I say, leading him up towards the mushy field in sight.

“Ok, sorry! I just got nervous. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t failing as my first real day as a counselor,” He chuckles. 

We continue chatting until we reach the field. Tyler sighs in relief as he sees the wash houses up to the right.

“Thanks Josh! I’ll see you back down there in a little bit,” He says cheerfully, walking carefully over the damp grass towards the concrete building. I chuckle as he almost walks into the female side. He catches himself and shoots me an embarrassed smile, watching as I grin and turn to make my way back down to the cabin.

Just as I’m about to start walking someone shouts my name. I turn and see Gerard waving at me from the mess hall.

“What!?” I shout across the field.

“What time is breakfast!? Tony forgot!” Gerard yells. I laugh to myself. How can the head cook forget what time breakfast is?

“Eight!” I shout. A look of panic washes over Gee’s face and he sprints back into the mess hall yelling incoherently.

I turn with a grin on my face, happy to be back at my chaotic summer residence.

As I happily make my way back down the trail to our cabin I’m greeted to the sound of yelling. I enter the clearing and see Ryan and Brendon talking animatedly on the porch. They look frazzled from sleep and Ryan is shouting something about a cell phone charger. Brendon holds up his hands in defeat.

I start jogging over and reach the porch, clapping my hands to get their attention. They both whip their heads around to look at me, angry scowls on their face.

“What’s happening boys?” I ask.

“Brendon forgot to pack my phone charger, which I _lent_ to him forever ago!” Ryan teems. 

“Shut the fuck up!” Someone who sounds suspiciously like Mikey shouts from inside the cabin. Ryan rolls his eyes.

“You were over at my house the other day, it’s not my fault you forgot it on my kitchen table!” Brendon cries exasperatedly, ignoring the outburst from his fellow campers.

“Guys, come on. I’m sure someone around here has a charger, and if not, you’re welcome to borrow mine to make emergency calls.” I say in a soothing tone. This seems to calm them down thankfully. “Now come on, I’m sure you just woke up the whole cabin,” I chide, leading the boys back into the cabin.

Sure enough, almost everyone but Vic is awake and somewhat dressed. Patrick is still in his pajamas, looking half asleep, and Mikey is lying on his bed, fully dressed with earbuds shoved harshly in his ears. I can hear the angsty music all the way from down here.

Ryan and Brendon grump over to their respective beds and brood angrily.

“What time is it?” Patrick mumbles through a yawn. I look over at the ancient alarm clock faintly glowing on the dresser. 

It reads 6:45am.

“Six forty five,” I reply. Patrick groans and flops back down.

“Where’s Tyler?” Jaime asks. He’s sitting on his bed with a notebook in his lap that he was clearly writing in.

“He went down to the showers,” I say walking over to Tylers bed and plopping down on it. It’s neatly made, with a flannel-esque blanket folded neatly on top of the black sleeping bag. Two white pillows are on top of each other at the head and I notice a black leather notebook peaking out from under them.

“You had to take him? Without a shirt on?” Ryan snickers from his bed. That earns a laugh from Brendon. The two exchange a smirk and all the sudden the tension clears the air.

“Watch it Ross,” I warn, smiling though as I stand up stretching. I grab my counselor shirt from my duffle under Tyler’s bed and pulling it on. I also pull on some socks and my doc martens.

“I can take you guys down there in a couple minutes before breakfast,” I say. The boys all perk up at the sound of food, and quickly scurry to grab their showering stuff.

Jaime walks over and pokes Vic violently until he jerks awake.

“God, what the hell?” Vic asks, looking around confused. After a moment he realizes he’s in the cabin and calms down.

“Come on, we’re showering now,” Jaime says. Vic groans but groggily gets up and gets his stuff.

“Alright, you can bring your stuff and leave it in the lockers there if you want, or run it back with Tyler before breakfast,” I say, once everyone is ready. 

I lead the parade of sleepy boys out of our quaint cabin and up the trail.

\--

While I’m waiting for everyone to finish washing, I’m sitting on one of the benches outside of the washroom, admiring the bustle of camp. 

Groups of kids are running around on the marshy field, playing an impromptu game of soccer. Some of the others are sitting at picnic tables, chatting and catching up. A couple counselors have laid out blankets by the mess hall and are playing a weird hand slapping game, laughing every once and awhile.

I hear a cough and look up to see Tyler standing there, hair still a little damp and a towel slung over his shoulders.

“Got room for one more?” He asks, nodding towards the bench I’m stretched out on. I falter for a second before quickly shuffling over for him to sit and laugh nervously.

“Yea, sorry,” I say as he plops down next to me. I notice the way the early morning light reflects off the random water droplets on his exposed collarbones. He catches my eye and smirks, suddenly the rolls from this morning reversed.

“What’s for breakfast? Tony ran into the bathroom this morning, holding a onfire pot of something.” Tyler laughs.

“I dunno, it’s usually a surprise,” I shrug. He nods slowly, keeping an eye on the door of the cement bath house. The door swings open as Mikey and Patrick walk out, talking animatedly about something. They both have damp hair and look refreshed. 

“Hey guys! You can go hang out with some other campers before the bell rings for breakfast,” I say. They nod, walking over to the group of counselors. Mikey plops down next to Pete, smiling and introducing Patrick.

“What’s up with them and him?” Tyler asks, looking suspiciously at the boys.

“Well Mikey and Pete have been friends for a while but Gerard is pretty convinced they had a fling or something last summer,” I say.

“Oh really? Should we like, keep an eye on them or something ...?” Tyler asks.

“I mean, I guess, Pete’s only like two years older then Mikey so it’s whatever,” I say shrugging. Tyler nods again, looking away and back towards the wash house.

“Should I go make sure they’re ok?” Tyler asks.

“Yea sure, they should be fine though,” I reply. He nods, yawing. Suddenly an idea pops into my head.

“Hey, wanna go grab some coffee before breakfast? The Mess Hall is probably done serving it for today but, the counselor lodge has a keurig machine,” I say, wiggling my eyebrows jokingly.

“Hell yea man, I’m so exhausted you don’t even know,” He whines. I laugh and hop up, dusting off my pants free of random pine needles and bark from the trees around. I reach down my hand for Tyler to grab, he does and I help hoist him up.

“Come on, sleepy head!” I chuckle, not letting go of his hand and walking around the perimeter of the field over to the trail. Tyler walks at my side, looking around with a new curiosity that wasn’t there yesterday.

“Are you feeling better about being here?” I ask, as stray branches and foliage crunch under our feet.

“Yea, I think. The mornings here are actually really peaceful,” He muses, squeezing my hand slightly.

“So, the counselors are having a little hang out at the beach tonight after the kids go to sleep, you wanna come?” I ask, nerves filling me up for some reason. Even though I’m just asking my friend to hang out it feels more... intense than that. I know Tyler feels it too when he tightens his grip on mine subconsciously.

“Yea sure, is there gonna be like, alcohol there though?” He asks, suddenly getting quiet. 

“Maybe, why? I’m sure someone can run to town if you want some,” I laugh, confused by his demeanour.

“No!” He blurts out shaking his head. He takes a breath, noting his own little outburst. “I mean, it’s alright, I don’t care, I was just wondering.”

“Oh alright, well I’m not sure, there was last year when Frank dragged me down there, but I’m not positive about this year,” I say.

“Ok, thanks,” He mumbles, as the counselor lodge appears to the right of us. I don’t let go of his hand as we climb up the old, creaky steps into the building.

We enter to the scent of coffee and mothballs. Nobody is there except for Mark who is asleep on the one couch. I tug Tyler over to the coffee machine and pop a little container of grounds into the machine and it’s whirs to life. 

Tyler drops my hand, and I frown a bit at it. He walks over to one of the worn recliners and plops down, crossing his legs. His eyes look vacant and he has this fuzzy aura around him which is making me uncomfortable.

Just as I’m about to try to talk to him the coffee machine beeps and hot caffeinated liquid pours out of the spout into the old grey mug placed under it.

“How do you like your coffee Joseph?” I ask, paying no mind to Mark who’s passed out snoring louder than when we entered. It takes Tyler a second to register I asked him a question, but when he does he plasters on a little smile and looks up at me.

“Two sugars and one cream please,” He says. My heart warms a bit at this and I grin as I open and pour two sugar packets into the warm beverage. I also peel open a cream and pour it in.

I walk over to where he is and pass it to him. He takes it eagerly, cradling it to his chest.

“Thank Josh,” He says, smiling up at me. I look down, and our eyes lock momentarily. All I want to do in that moment is lean down at kis-

“What the hell? What time is it?” Mark interrupts, waking up from his nap. I sigh and turn to him, the brief moment of lust whisked away.

“Almost breakfast time loser, you better get going,” I say, my mood squashed. Partially from myself having these feelings about this boy I barely know, and partially at Mark for interrupting my reckless behavior. 

“Aw shit, you’re right,” He grumbles, sitting up and stretching.

“See you in a little bit,” I say, waving at him as he quickly rushes out of the cabin.

“Is everyone here a little bit dysfunctional or only the counselors,” Tyler asks with a grin on his face.

“Everyone is pretty bad at their jobs, not gonna lie,” I say.

“Like how do the cooks forget what time breakfast starts, and like how do people not set alarm clocks?” He continues, looking seriously puzzled.

“It’s only the first day, I think it’ll get better,” I say.

“Yea you’re rig- wait _you think_?” He gawks, quickly whipping his head to stare at me in concern. I burst into giggles at the look on his face and fall back onto the couch Mark was previously sleeping on.

“You’ve got a big storm coming honey,” I chuckle and Tyler chucks a stray throw pillow at me.


	7. that could've gone a lot better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter with some v. light smut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao this is my last prewritten chapter, bc i'm lowkey blocked with chapter eight. like i've legit written and scraped it three times. i'm dying fam.
> 
> sorry this chapter is long and kinda confusing, i had a different ending written but hated it so there's a weird jump after that scene on the trail.
> 
> anyways enjoy and if you find any mistakes let me know please!!

\--- tylers pov ---

I’m standing in the Arts Hall, strumming quietly on a ukulele Frank had asked me to tune while my kids swam. Sour notes spill through the big room and I cringe at every one until I manage to pluck and twist the strings to the correct tightness. 

I softley pluck out a short tune, the tinny sound filling my ears. I hear a quick rap on the door and turn to see Jenna standing there.

“Hey Tyler! Josh told me I could find you in here! Erm, you’ve got a call back at the infirmary,” She informs me, looking anxious.

“Oh ok, I didn’t even know we had an infirmary,” I chuckle, hanging the uke back up on the wall. 

“Oh yea, it’s right behind the Mess Hall,” She smiles sweetly. I shove my hands in the pockets of my skinny jeans and briskly walk out of the Arts Hall, nodding at Jenna as we part ways. She jogs down to the beach and kneels down to help some kid put on sunscreen.

I smile and start fast walking up the trail, I don’t want to keep whoever is on the phone waiting.

After a couple minutes of walking I see the Mess Hall up ahead and for the first time, notice a small little run down shack with a faded sign stuck to the window which reads “Infirmry”. I shake my head at the typo and take the moldy steps two at a time. 

I enter and the smell of antiseptic hits me like a wall. I hold back a gag and look to see Mark sitting there, looking bored.

“Hey Ty, someone is on the line for you,” He grumbles, passing me a home phone which is anchored to the wall by one of those spiral cords. I smile at him and put the somehow sticky phone up to my ear.

“Hello?” I ask quizically.

“Tyler! Hey! It’s Zach!” My brother’s voice fills my ear and I grin.

“Hey Zach, what’s up?” I ask, as Mark stands up from the lawn chair next to the phone and motions for me to sit. I nod appreciatively and plop down.

“Uh not much, mom just suggested we called you,” He say nonchalantly.

“Oh cool, how’s stuff there?” I ask, suddenly feeling like he’s just calling to make our mom happy.

“Boring, mom’s letting me and Jay have the week off from shooting baskets,” He says cheerily.

“What? That’s no fair,” I grumble in annoyance.

“Well, it’s not like you’re practicing up there,” Zach laughs.

“Yea true, but I have a cabin filled with angsty teenage boys with no internet, so I think you’re winning,” I chuckle.

“Yikes, I do not envy you my friend,” Zach laughs. “So, how’s your co counselor? Any cute girls- erm I mean people?”

“Oh my co counselor is nice, his name is Josh, he actually is from Columbus too,” I say, appreciating his effort to be inclusive.

He’s the only person in my family I’m out to as gay, and probably the only person who I’m ever going to be out to in my family. Thankfully he’s always been very chill about the whole thing, and even promised not to say anything to our strict christian parents.

“Oh cool, he sounds nice,” Zach says. 

“Yea, he’s actually really funny and sweet,” I say, smiling at the thought of Josh. I hear a cough from the corner of the room and realize Mark is sitting on one of the cots raising an eyebrow at me.

“Funny and _sweet_? Does my brother have a crush on his co counselor?” Zach whisper yells into the phone. I feel embarrassment creeping up my cheeks knowing Mark is hearing every word Zach is saying.

“Um sorry Zach, thanks for calling, I’ve gotta go,” I blurt, trying to finish this call as soon as possible.

“Be safe! Don’t do anything stupid Tyler!” Zach shouts, before I slam the phone back up onto the wall. I duck my head and try to scurry out of the cabin as fast as possible only to be stopped at the door by Mark.

I look up at the guy who’s standing in front of the door, arms folded across his chest.

“Listen Tyler, me and Josh have been friends for a while now, if you want to date him that’s fine, but don’t use him please,” Mark says, sounding like an overprotective dad.

“Mark! I’ve known him for like two days, we’re only friends don’t worry!” I assure him, postive my face is as red as a tomato. Mark nods, not looking fully convinced and steps out of the way of the door. I nod and scurry out, and back down towards the beach.

\--

My feet pound angrily against the dirt as my thoughts race.

I do not like Josh, we’ve known eachother for such a short time, I can’t have feelings for him, right? Yes, he’s attractive and seeing him shirtless this morning made my heart beat out of my chest, but I’m not ruin my summer pining after some boy with red hair and pretty tattoos! He probably doesn’t even like guys.

My breath becomes sporadic as I dart down the path towards the beach, trees whizzing past me and the sound of gently sloshing water sounds a little ways off.

Suddenly I hit something tall, and hard and crash back onto the ground.

“Geez! Tyler! Are you ok?” Someone asks, sounding flustered.

I’m sprawled out on the path, looking up at the canopy far above me. My head is spinning, and I know I hit my head too hard when Josh with wet curls and a soaked shirt appears in my vision, looking at me with nervous eyes.

“Ach,” I reply, throwing up a hand to the bridge of my nose and pinching to relieve some of the pain in my head.

Josh reaches out and grabs my shoulders, helping sit me up in a sitting position. I curl my legs under me, criss-cross style and look up at him.

“You ok there? Sorry I ran into you? Do you need to go to medical?” He asks, biting his thumb nervously. 

“Mmmm, I’m good,” I groan out, my head and back aching from hitting the ground so hard.

“You sure? Come on let me take you back to the cabin,” Josh says, helping me up. I stand with help from him and he begins walking (practically carrying) me up the path towards the cabins. 

The walks passes in silence, with the occasional apology from Josh or a groan from me when a wave of pain crashes through my head.

We reach the cabin in a couple minutes, after walking quickly back towards the infirmary, across the field and then back down the cabin path.

Josh helps me up the cabin steps then leads me over to my bunk where I collapse. He sits at the end of my bed and an ear piercing silence fills the room.

“Sorry again, for hurting you,” He mumbles, barely audible to me. I struggle, but sit up and face him.

“Josh, stop apologizing, I shouldn't've been running pell-mell down a camp wide used path,” I reassure him.

“Yea true, if you don’t mind though I’m gonna take off these wet clothes,” He says standing up and stretching.

“How’d you get wet anyways?” I ask, lying back down and shutting my eyes so I don’t stare again.

“Pete decided to push me off the dock,” He chuckles. I pop open one eye and see him tugging off his wet shirt and then sliding off his basketball shorts. I flutter my eye mostly shut so he won’t notice me looking but it’s so hard to look away.

Josh Dun is standing, wet and only in his boxers, like five feet away from me. I watch him flex his back and arm muscles as he pulls open his drawer to get fresh clothing and bite my lip. He shrugs on a loose fitting tank top, with arm holes so big they practically go to his hips. He also shimmies on a pair of black skinny jeans with rips in the knees. Then he shakes his head like a dog, spraying water everywhere and turns back to me. I squeeze my eyes shut, pretending I had them closed the whole time.

I hear him shut his drawer and plop down at the end of my bed.

“Do you need anything Ty?” He asks, placing a hand on my calf. I shiver and can hear a smile grow on his lips.

I feel him tugging off my vans and open my eyes.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“You clearly need some rest, but I know I can’t sleep in sneakers so I’m helping you out,” He shrugs, placing my shoes neatly at the end of my bed.

“Do you think you’re still up for the party tonight?” Josh asks quietly after a couple moments.

“Hopefully,” I say, even though I’m honestly not feeling up to it. 

“Cool, I’m gonna clean up in here a little bit while you rest,” Josh says, happily bouncing off my bed and starting to make the messy beds in the cabin.

“Alright,” I mumble, my eyes already growing heavy and closing.

\--

The boys are all asleep in their bunks, and Josh is standing at the door waving me over excitedly. I grab my phone from the end of my bed and hurry my way over to the door. Josh gives me a mischievous grin and holds the door open for me. 

We scurry out into the brisk night time western New York summer air. Josh grabs my hand, for the second time today, and whisks me away down towards the beach.

Our feet pad across the sand over to the small congregation of counselors sitting on the beach. There is a fire in the center of their circle and I can smell roasted marshmallows and booze. I cringe at the thought of spending an evening with a bunch of drunk teenagers next to a fire.

“Hey! You guys are just in time for some party games!” Dallon calls from the group, waving them over. Me and Josh sit down in the circle, in between Melanie and Tony.

“What are we playing?” Josh asks, stretching out his legs and leaning back on his arms. I can see a sliver of skin between his shirt and pants and quickly avert my eyes.

“I dunno, how about seven minutes in heaven?” Someone suggests. 

“What are we? Twelve?” Frank groans from the other side of the fire.

“Whatever, whoever wants to play can, whoever doesn’t can stay and hang out by the fire,” Jenna says standing up and dusting off her legs. She sits down a little bit aways from the fire and a couple people follow her over. Some stay back and congregate around Frank and Gerard to chat.

I see Josh standing up, and winking at me before walking over to Jenna’s group. I blink furiously, did I see that right? Did Josh wink at me, before walking over to play a game of seven minutes in heaven?

I jolt up and anxiously walk over, sitting down across from him, smiling nervously. He smirks, and my heartrate increases furiously.

“Ok, Hayley you can spin first!” Jenna says, tossing the bottle towards a girl with short fiery orange hair. She grins and spins the bottle in the center of the circle. 

It stops on some random dude in a hoodie I didn’t see earlier and the two scurry off towards the boat shed down the beach.

“Tyler you next,” Tony says, tossing me the bottle. I’m so stressed I almost start crying when I cautiously tap the bottle so it begins to spin. 

Around and around it goes, kicking up sand in it’s wake until it stops.

It’s facing Josh.

_Oh fucking course._

Josh winks and stands up, nodding towards the Arts Hall. I stand up, my knees trembling.

This summer was supposed to be about getting over my demons in my head, and connecting with nature, not making out with my co-counselor on the second day.

Fuck it Tyler, you came here to have some fun too, it’s not like you’re gonna see Josh outside of camp anyways.

I hurry across the sand, following Josh’s long strides. Wolf-whistles and shouts of encouragement are sounded from behind us and I blush, hoping the darkness of night hides it.

Josh reaches out for my hand, and laces our fingers together before leading me into the cool wooden building.

“Are you ok with doing this? If not that’s fine, we can I dunno finger paint or something,” Josh reassures me as soon as the door closes.

“I’m fine Josh,” I say quietly. And with that Josh grabs my other hand and pins me against the wall. He holds my hands above my head and leans down to lock our lips together.

His lips are warm and soft, and my cool and chapped lips scratch against his. I let out a little groan into his lips as he pushes up against me, the friction making me moan. He sucks on my lower lip and then begins kissing down my neck. His lips reach below my collarbone and he sucks and nips at my sensitive skin making me gasp. 

I know I’m gonna have a hickey to hide tomorrow, but I honestly don’t care in the moment.

I struggle against his tight grasp on my wrists and he lets them go. I tangle them immediately into ruby curls and tug gently, making him groan.

He grabs my thighs and hoists me up so my legs are wrapped around his waist. He swings me around and takes us over to one of the tables, where he sets me back down. 

He pushes me flat on the table and crawls up on top of me. His fingers graze up and down my chest under my shirt and when his hand grazes my nipple I make a noise in the back of my throat that I didn’t even know I could make.

“Fuck, you’re so hot,” Josh groans as he litters my face with hot wet kisses. I move my hands down from his hair to under his shirt, feeling his toned abdomen and pecs.

Josh places his knee in between my legs and presses it up against my aroused groin. I bite my lip and claw against his skin, making him let out a sharp wheeze.

“Josh...please,” I stutter, not even knowing what I’m asking for, but I need something to relieve this painful friction in my pants.

Josh tentatively pulls back. “What do you want Ty? I’m fine with anything, but I want to make sure you’re down,” He says, straddling me.

“I... I... I dunno just touch me, do something,” I gasp out, my brain fogged up arousal. 

“You sure Ty? We can wait, we’ve got all summer,” He says, sounding like he doesn’t really want to stop, but obviously not wanting to make me uncomfortable.

I groan, and remove my hands from him and rub my eyes.

“You’re right, we should wait,” I grumble, looking up into his big brown eyes.

“I mean we don’t have to,” Josh says hopefully, hands still wandering under my shirt.

“No come on Josh, like you said we’ve got all summer,” I say, feeling dejected and uncomfortable with the bulge in my pants.

“Alright, are you gonna go back to the cabin?” He asks, standing up and helping me up too. My knees feel like spaghetti and I know I look like a mess.

“I’m actually gonna go wash up first I think,” I say, feeling gross and sweaty from the makeout session we just had.

“K, do you need me to take you?” He asks. I shake my head as we walk towards the door. “Here, I don’t want you catching a chill in just that tee shirt, it’s cold out,” He mutters, pulling off his hoodie and passing it to me in front of the door.

Right as I’m about to leave I turn to Josh and plant a little kiss on his cheek before scurrying up the path towards the shower.

I look over my shoulder and see him standing in the moonlight on the beach, a stupid grin on his face and my heart flutters.


	8. hush hush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friday is my favorite day bc i get to post this fic, but like this chapter was giving me hell tbh, I literally rewrote it 5 times (each around 2-5k words). Finally i just gave up, so have this garbage :/

\--- joshs pov ---

I watch Tyler walk up the trail, stumbling over some stray roots in the darkness. I chuckle to myself lightly seeing him meander up the path.

“Dun, where’s Tyler going?” Someone shouts from the campfire and my cheeks flush. This must look bad, Tyler practically running off after we disappeared into the Art Hall together.

“He went to get ready for bed, since he was tired,” I reply, starting to walk back over to them.

“Tired from what,” Gerard says suggestively. I blush and swat his arm playfully as I sit down next to him and Frank.

“Shut up Gee,” I grumble.

“How was it?” Frank questions, leaning out from next to Gee to look at me.

“Ya know, pretty good,” I say nonchalantly, going to comb my fingers through my hair only to realise what a mess it is.

“You dork, you’ve already hooked up with the new kid on day two,” Pete laughs from my other side.

“Shudup,” I grumble, smacking his arm too. He snickers again and rolls his eyes.

“Ok, but like, do you think he might actually like me?” I ask.

“Of course he likes you Dun, you’re a total heartthrob,” Tony interjects, grabbing his chest and pretending to swoon.

“Guys come on, I’m being serious!” I say, crossing my arms across my chest.

“Well, do you like him?” Dallon asks.

“I dunno, it’s been like two days but yea he’s really nice and sweet,” I say sheepishly.

“Awe, our little boy has a crush on Joseph,” Frank coos. 

“Fuck off Frank. Guys, this is probably gonna throw off our whole counselor dynamic,” I groan dropping my head into my hands.

“Yea maybe, or it could make you guys super in sync,” Gerard suggests hopefully.

“Possibly, I dunno, sorry for venting,” I mumble, starting to feel self conscious.

“It’s fine, why don’t you go have some rest?” Dallon suggests.

“Yea, that’s probably a good idea,” I reply, yawning and standing up.

“We can talk about your boy problems tomorrow,” Pete reassures me. I flip him off before trudging off towards the cabin.

\--

I’m about to turn off the main path to our cabin when someone grabs my shoulders. I shriek, only to feel a hand clamp over my mouth. I go rigid and stick out my tongue to lick the hand on my mouth. The person makes a noise of disgust and drops their hand. I spin around to see Tyler there, wiping his hand on my hoodie he’s wearing.

“What the fuck Tyler?” I ask angrily, still shaking slightly.

“Why the fuck would you lick me, I mean that’s gross,” Tyler sighs, ignoring my question.

“Why would you decide to sneak up on me in the middle of the forest at midnight and put your hand over my mouth?” I retort back huffily.

“I wanted to surprise you, I didn’t think you’d scream, but you did so I had to cover your mouth,” He says, tugging on the sleeve of the hoodie absentmindedly.

“Why did you want to surprise me you loser,” I ask, my nerves calming down.

“I saw you walking over and thought like ‘hey I should totally like surprise Josh and we could hang out’,” He laughs awkwardly.

“Oh, ok. You wanna hangout? Isn’t it like three am?” I ask, making sure I heard him right.

“If you’re not sleepy that is. I can’t sleep so maybe we could like I dunno watch shitty movies in the Arts Hall or something?” He suggests. My whole face lights up at the prospect of hanging out with Tyler, alone, the guy who just willing made out of me.

“Let me grab us a blanket so we don’t freeze our asses off,” I grin before racing off towards the cabin. I quietly swing open the door and tip toe over to our bunk. I grab one of Tyler’s fuzzy afghans and my soft fleece. I’m quickly check to make sure everyone is still asleep in their bunks. I count heads and once everyone is accounted for I sneak back out.

I rush back over to where Tyler is standing, rubbing his arms idly and biting his lip.

“Finally, hurry up Josh oh my gosh,” Tyler shivers. I roll my eyes. Western New York weather can be alarming for people who have never experienced it before, but for me it’s not that bad.

“Someone is being fussy,” I scoff, before reaching down and grasping Tylers hand. He curls his fingers into mine and we begin to walk while casually chatting.

\--

It’s later that evening and we’re lounging on the beanbags in the Arts Hall. Tyler is snuggled up into my side, in like a _totally normal bro_ way. We’ve been watching Pirates of The Caribbean, because that’s the only disc in the room but Tyler doesn’t mind. 

It’s about twenty minutes in when I figure I should open my big fat mouth and try to talk about the whole _thing_ earlier. I want to get it out of the way before tomorrow, I really don’t want to live the rest of our summer in awkward sexual tension.

“So,” I begin.

“So?” Tyler asks, looking up into my eyes. My breath catches in my throat for a second before I collect myself.

“Do you wanna like talk about tonight?” I say, trying to stay casual.

“Um, I dunno, should we?” He asks, sitting up straight and looking at me.

“Maybe, I wasn’t sure if you wanted to or...,” I cut myself off, trying to find the right words. “I-I just don’t want this summer to be super awkward if that was a one time thing,” I jumble. He breathes a sigh of relief.

“No, it’s ok. I don’t want things to be awkward either don’t worry. Do you just wanna ignore it?” He suggests. I furrow my brows in confusion.

“Whaddya mean?” I ask.

“We can acknowledge it happened but not let it effect the way we interact?” He suggests. Oh. Ok.

“Yea sure,” I mumble, biting my lip. I silently curse myself for thinking that he’d want to be anything more than friends.

“Cool, glad we’re on the same page,” He beams up at me. My heart cracks a little on the edges as he turns away and unpauses the movie.

Ouch.

\--

I’m sitting with Gerard and Frank at one of the picnic tables outside the Arts Hal the next day, with my head in my hands.

“What exactly did he say?” Gerard coaxed gently.

“He said we should, and I quote ‘acknowledge it happened but not let it affect the way we interact’,” I groan. Frank gives me a sympathetic click of this tongue and rests his hand on my back.

“Sorry Joshie, that sucks,” He says gently.

“Not to be a dick, but why would you decide to talk about that like an hour after it happened?” Gerard asks. I sigh and lift my head up, to look at the red haired boy.

“I wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be awkward and weird tomorrow, and he was in a really good mood so I thought...,” I trail off, groaning again and letting my head drop back into my arms.

The sound of kids splashing around in the lake behind us, and Pete angrily whistling is the backdrop to this dismal conversation.

“Well, I can respect that, but you’ve gotta learn to play is cool Joshie,” Frank agrees with Gee.

“You’re right,” I say wistfully.

“Hey, at least you have your options open for when the other counselors show up!?” Gerard offers, trying to cheer me up.

“Ew no, I’ve known all of them for like my entire life, that’d be weird,” I grumble.

“True, that would be a little weird,” Frank agrees.

“Shit, he’s walking over,” Gerard suddenly panics. I jolt up and try to look normal. My eyes scan the beach in front of me and sure enough, there’s Tyler walking over with his hands shoved in the front pocket of my hoodie. When he notices me looking he pulls a hand out and waves excitedly.

“What do I do!?” I gasp to Gee and Frank.

“Act like a normal human being,” Frank jokes. I roll me eyes, just as Tyler plops down next to me on the bench. His exposed knee gently graces mine and I yank it back harshly, hitting it on the underside of the table. I curse under my breath and Tyler gives me a weird look.

“You ok Josh? You ran out of breakfast so fast I was worried,” He says, giving me a look of concern. I shrug.

“I’m ok, just feeling a little under the weather,” I bluff. I can tell Tyler senses my lie, but lets it go.

Silence falls over the table, until Frank yawns dramatically.

“You know, me and Gee need to attend to some important _art_ business so we’ll let you two be,” Frank smiles awkwardly, before aggressively pull Gerard up and into the Arts Hall. Gee gives me a pitiful glance before the door to the building closes.

I look over at Tyler, giving a weak smile. He returns it, looking about ready to jump out of his skin.

So much for not making things awkward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woohoo i finally fucking finished this chapter, anyways i also practically reached 15k which is exciting!!  
> my beta readers didn't get a chance to read this one because i wrote this final draft about like four hours before i'm posting, so if you see any mistakes feel free to point them out!  
> -  
> I have a question for you guys! Would you like it if I took this fic a totally joshler direction with only josh and ty povs, or would you mind if i veered off and did some chapters from like mikey's or brendon's pov to progress some other ships? lemme know xx


	9. oh no

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, ok so i'm just saying fuck it and posting this chapter even though I'm not super happy with the way this fic is shaping up to be.
> 
> be warned there's very poorly written smut near the end.
> 
> ALSO thanks to ThatWeirdFangirl for inspiring this chapter <3

\--- tylers pov ---

Josh is still acting super moody, and to be honest it’s kind of getting on my nerves. I have no idea what I did wrong, and his moodiness is throwing off our entire dynamic. The kids can sense it, and it’s making everyone iratible.

That’s why, Josh and I are walking through the woods towards our cabin in search of Mikey, who stormed off from the beach earlier during volleyball, because Jaime kept serving the ball into the lake. 

We’re rounding the bend towards our cabin when we hear shuffling in the woods. I give Josh a weird look but he justs shrugs.

“What was that?” I ask, as we hear a loud bang from the cabin.

“Shit, I dunno, let’s go look,” Josh says, before rushing towards the cabin. He opens the door, and looks around for a second before yelling and falling back onto the porch. I run over to help him up only to hear yelling and scrambling in the cabin.

“What happened?!” I cry, hoisting Josh up onto his feet.

“Mikey a-and Pe-pete,” Josh stutters out, looking horrified. I give him a confused look before peering into the cabin.

Sure enough, there’s Pete shimming back into his skinny jeans and Mikey tugging a shirt over his head. I gasp and shut the door violently.

“What the fuck? What do we do? Should we like yell at them?” I ask frantically. There was nothing in the counselor guidebook that mentioned what to do when you find a counselor and camper fooling around in your cabin.

“Yes? Yea, I mean maybe? Shit I dunno,” Josh stammers, looking like he just saw a ghost.

“We’re the ones in charge here, come on,” I say firmly. I knock on the door, and Pete yanks it open.

“Listen, I’m sorry ok, but please we’re both consenting and it’s not like there's a horrific age gap,” Pete blurts out as soon as I go to speak. I square my jaw and frown.

“Mikey, what the fuck? Gerard’s literally going to murder your ass,” I cry out. Mikey shies away from me, ducking his head.

“Hey, don’t yell at him. It’s not like we all don’t know you and Dun fucked in the Arts Hall last night,” Pete scoffs, stepping protectively in front of Mikey.

“We didn’t fuck, oh my god!” I gasp out, embarrassment flushing my cheeks. 

“Why, would that’ve embarrassed you Tyler?” Josh spits out. I reel back, and give him a incredulous look.

“What?” I stammer, confusion evident on my face.

“You practically ran off last night, and then invited me to hang out only to tell me to forget what we did!” Josh shouts angrily at me. I stutter, my mind racing at a thousand miles an hour. I didn’t mean that, I just wanted to keep things normal between Josh and I while we got to know each other. I didn’t mean to make him feel like I didn’t like him.

“That’s not... you’ve got it all wrong... I didn’t mean,” I stutter. Josh just rolls his eyes and storms out of the cabin. I stand there, my eyes darting between Josh and the other boys.

“Don’t think you’re getting off this easy, we’re having a long talk after I get Josh back,” I say sternly to Pete and Mikey. 

I quickly rush out of the cabin, the door clattering in my wake. I race after the sight of Josh’s red hair disappearing into the woods, yelling his name.

I enter the untamed forest and tumble and trip over branches and twigs after Josh. I follow his ruby hair deeper and deeper into the foliage. The canopy gets thicker and thicker until the afternoon sun is almost blocked out. 

My feet pound against the dirt and my breath come out in loud gasps. Finally, after I feel like my legs are going to give out, he stops against a tree, panting. I catch up to him and take a moment to catch my ragged breath.

“I’m sorry Josh, I didn’t mean to make you think that. I just felt bad, and like I dunno I did something wrong after we made out. I’ve always been adamant about getting to know someone before we hook up, and don’t get me wrong it was really nice, but after I thought about it I felt bad,” I gush out. Josh has one arm braced against a tall Evergreen and is bended over taking shallow breaths.

Finally after a couple moments of awkward silence he lifts his head.

“Really? You just want to get to know me better?” He asks, raising an eyebrow. I nod sincerely and a smirk lifts on his lips.

“So, after we got to know each other you’d be down to... do stuff?” He asks nefariously. My heart starts beating in my chest and I bite my lip.

“Y-yea,” I stammer.

“My favorite color is red,” He says, stepping towards me. I stand there kinda awkwardly but nod, not knowing where he’s going with this. 

He places his hands on my hips and with a jerk he pulls me flush against him.

“My favorite band is Mother Mother,” He whispers, leaning his head down next to my neck.

“Jo-josh,” I mutter, suddenly forgetting about Pete and Mikey waiting for us back at the cabin.

“I have three siblings, all younger then me,” He mumbles, before leaning down and pressing a wet kiss against my collarbone. He nips playfully then pulls back. He pushes me against a tree and then presses a rough kiss against my lips.

After he pulls back I’m left, mouth wide open, staring at him in shock.

“You said you wanted to get to know me better before we did more stuff, so I figured I could give you a brief summary of me then we could do something else...” He trails off. 

“That’s a good idea, ya know what?” I rush out, my thoughts racing. 

So what I’m going against some of my morals by fucking around with a boy I don’t know very well. This summer I’m going to turn a new leaf, a leaf of spontaneous makeouts with cute boys with red hair and really pretty eyes.

“You sure you’re ok with this, I can stop,” Josh says quietly.

“Yea I’m good. So what I don’t know you very well, we’ve got all summer right,” I say with a smirk. He grins.

“Take off your shirt,” He mutters. I grin and yank off his hoodie, and toss it to the forest ground.

Josh’s hands trail up and down my torso causing my breath to hitch. He leans towards me and presses light, delicate kisses all down my chest. He, drops to his knees and firmly kisses the skin above the hemline of my shorts. He looks up at me through his eyelashes and, I’m so far gone.

He pops back up and kisses me hot and heavy. A wandering hand moves down and starts palming me through my basketball shorts. I moan a little at the touch and I can feel his lips form a smile on mine.

“Please,” I whimper out as he nip my bottom lip.

“What do you want?” He asks. 

“I-I dunno,” I stutter out. He pulls back and I gasp at the sudden lack of him.

“You have to be more specific Ty,” He says stubbornly, crossing his arms across his chest.

“I-I want you to touch me,” I whimper, longing for his heat again. 

Just like that, he’s back on me. He kisses me quickly before his hand tugs down my basketball shorts and boxers. They fall down to the ground, and Josh lets out a little moan when he sees me.

I feel exposed, but we’re in the middle of the woods so who’s gonna see us.

Josh’s hand reaches down and he starts slowly moving his hand up and down my dick. My breath catches in my throat and I moan.

“Jo-josh,” I whine out at his touch. 

“Yea?” He asks, before dropping down to his knees with one last kiss on my mouth. He removes his hand from my dick and I whimper at the absence.

It’s not left alone for long before Josh playfully licks the underside of it, and flicks his tongue over my slit. I buck my hips forward involuntarily. Josh clucks his tongue and places his hands roughly against my hips, to keep them in place.

And suddenly, his mouth is around my dick, bobbing up and down slowly. 

“Fa-faster Joshie,” I whine out. He moans, which sends vibrations up and down my cock. I fling my head back against the tree and let out a flurry of curses. He speeds up his pace, and I reach down my hands to tangle in his red curls. I tug, which results in another moan from him.

He swirls his tongue around me and takes me deeper, causing me to gasp.

“I’m close,” I gasp out. He bobs faster, moaning and licking and I’m putty in his hands.

“Fuck! Josh!” I cry out. He jerks back quickly as I come all over my stomach. There’s a little on Josh’s face, he just wipes it off with his thumb and sucks it clean between his red lips. I’m panting heavily as I slouch down against the tree. Sweat has matted my hair against my forehead and my brain is still spinning from what just happened.

“You're such a cutie,” Josh laughs, pulling off his shirt. He leans over to me and begins wiping off my stomach.

“Shut up you dork,” I say, still breathing heavily.

“Oh, by the way, my favorite tv show is Sex in The City.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah ok, so this fic is kinda writing itself and tbh i'm not really liking the way it's going. i'm finding it so hard to like not just fast forward to halfway through the summer bc i already know the ending and aslauhsda. 
> 
> anyways sorry if the smut is bad it was my first time lmao. Also sorry tyler seems like an indecisive hoe (that's just me talking through him tbh, since i had no idea what i wanted to happen between them)
> 
> also ok, so i'm moving again at the end of next week so idk if i'll get around to updating friday! if not look forward to an update next next friday!
> 
> (btw follow me on twitter for updates pls)
> 
> \-- last edited oct.29.2016 --


	10. nothing he says can hurt us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didn't proofread // + petekey // + 100 kudos!!?? thank you nerds so much xx

\--- tylers pov ---

The next week or so passes by in a blur. It’s filled with overly intense games of Bocce ball, a parent-trap sequence of cabin prank wars, and a canoe flipping contest between the Blue Jay and Robin cabins, amongst other things.

Gerard and Frank are set on fucking with Mikey constantly since they found out about him and Pete. Josh and I sat down with Gee a couple days after the incident and informed him about what happened between Mikey and Pete. Of course, he flipped his shit, and he’s been dead set on hiding all of Mikey’s clothes, constantly taking all the coffee before breakfast and just generally being a pest.

Today Gerard has decided to be a major pest apparently, by the way Mikey stumbles into the Mess Hall, half asleep with bright pink hair.

“Jesus, what happened to your hair?” Tony cries from behind the counter. Suddenly Mikey straightens his back, looking confused.

“Why? What happened to it? I just washed it?” Mikey questions, plopping down next to Patrick. Patrick fishes out his phone from his pocket and shoves it in front of Mikey’s face. Mikey’s jaw drops when he catches a glimpse of himself in the reflective screen. He gingerly sets the phone in front of Patrick then stands up, shaking the whole table with him.

He whips around and begins to storm towards where the counselors are sitting. He grabs the back and Gee’s jacket and pulls him to the ground.

“Ok! You’ve taken it too far! Pete and I hooked up one time, and I’m done with the bullshit you’re putting me through!” He yells angrily, looking down at his red-haired brother who’s sprawled out on the cold floor. Mikey tisks his tongue then storms out, leaving the doors clattering in his wake.

A silence sets eerily over the Mess Hall until Frank hops up and helps a crest-fallen Gerard up. Pete stands up a second later, throwing Frank and Gee and look of disgust and storming out after the pink haired teen.

“Well fuck,” Frank says after the doors slam shut.

“I think you guys took it a little too far, I mean it was one time,” Hayley inputs, looking sadly at the door.

My eyes dart to Josh who’s sitting there stock still. I poke his thigh gingerly.

“You ok?” I ask quietly, so only he can hear me. His eyes flutter and I can tell he’s back in reality again.

“Yea, I’m good. I just don’t like yelling is all,” He awkwardly laughs.

“Should I like go talk to him?” Gerard asks, looking upset.

“No, give him some space then apologize,” Jenna says.

“The little pranks were fine, brotherly messing around, but the dye was a bit too much. Camp is supposed to be fun right?” Debby says, resting her chin in her hand.

“Yea ok, I’m gonna go for a walk I think,” Gee mutters, standing up. He walks quickly and quietly out of the Mess Hall, leaving a half eaten Eggo waffle and cup of coffee on the table. Frank shrugs apologetically and follows after him.

I look around the Mess Hall, everyone has gone back to eating quietly, except I notice Patrick who is just pushing the watery eggs around on his plate.

“Do you think he’s ok?” I ask Josh, pointing indiscreetly at the fedora wearing boy. Josh shrugs.

“Yea, he’s probably just tired or something,” Josh says nonchalantly. I nod and look back at my nearly full plate, my appetite gone.

Things between Josh and I after in the woods last week haven’t been good. It was ok for a couple days then he began to grow distant, always having somewhere else to be whenever I needed him.

It made me worry that I messed up, I should’ve stuck to my guts, I ruined everything. One night I confided this all to Jenna (who’ve I’ve become fast friends with), and she told me that Josh was probably having one of his infamous moods.

She said ‘he gets like this sometimes; spacey and distant.’ I just sighed and asked if he would ever get out of it. She just laughed and told me to go to sleep.

I have a sinking suspicion she has no clue if he’s going to get out it.

“Ty? Come on we’ve gotta take everyone to pack up for the hike,” Josh says, fishing me out of my thoughts. I nod and stand up with him. We bus our plates to the little bin in the corner of the Hall and walk over to the campers table.

“Come on guys, we’ve gotta go pack and get ready for our trip,” Josh says, motioning for our campers to get up and follow us.

Jaime and Vic bolt up, eager to get going. Ryan and Brendon follow suit, then Patrick stands up, looking gloomy.

\--- mikeys pov ----

“Like this?” Pete giggles from over the sink. He rubbing bleach into his hair as I sit on the floor, sniffling slightly.

“Yea, looks great,” I smile up at him. My knees are pulled up to my chest and my arms wrapped lazily around them, my chin resting on the top of my knees.

Pete turns around after peeling off his gloves and looks at me. He sighs and comes and sits next to me.

“I’m sorry Gerard is being such an ass,” He says, leaning back his head towards the ceiling and exhaling tiredly.

“I-it’s not your problem,” I say softly, afraid if I say anything more I’ll begin to cry again.

“Ohmygod Mikey, it’s one hundred percent my problem, you’re my boyfriend for christ's sake,” Pete says, alarm in his eyes. I grumble something incoherent and lean over, onto his chest. He shimmies over so I’m leaning back against his chest and wraps his arms around my waist, resting his head on my shoulder.

“You’re gonna look so hot with pink hair,” I whisper to him with a smile on my face.

“Shut up,” Pete flusters. I smirk and close my eyes, when suddenly the door to the boy’s washroom swings open.

Pete and I jolt apart and he jumps up looking alarmed.

A startled Patrick stands in the doorway.

We all are still for a moment before Pete waves awkwardly.

“What’s going on?” Patrick asks curiously. His eyes are red around the edges like he’s been crying.

“Just dying my hair,” Pete says nonchalantly. Patrick nods slowly and casts his glance down towards where I’m sitting. He sucks in a quick breath before turning and walking straight out of the bathroom. Pete and I exchange an odd look.

“The fuck?” Pete asks.

Suddenly it dawns on me.

Oh shit.

I fucked up. I fucked up big time.

“Shit, I’ve gotta go, I’ll be back in a bit,” I say hurriedly, jumping up and giving Pete a quick hug before rushing out of the building.

I leave Pete standing confused in the middle of the room as I rush out into the harsh morning air after a red haired boy walking swiftly away from me.

“Patrick! Wait up!” I holler, running quickly towards him. He stops for a second and turns to look at me, anger and sadness all to present on his face.

“Sorry, I’ve got somewhere else to be,” He quips.

“Listen, I’m so sorry Patrick. You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you,” I say frowning.

“Too late,” He says.

“It’s not all my fault Patrick!” I shout angrily as he walks away towards the lake. I stop and curse and kick the dirt under my feet.

“You ok Mikey?” Someone asks from behind me. I spin around and see Ryan standing there looking concerned.

“Yea, I’m great,” I grumble.

“You don’t look great,” Ryan says, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

I hold up my hands in mock surrender-“You got me.”

“Wanna talk about it?” He asks softly.

“I’ve got nothing else to lose,” I sigh. Ryan nods towards over to some picnic tables and we walk over. I drop down heavily onto the bench and sigh.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Ryan smiles at me kindly.

“Ok, so Pete and I have been seeing each other on and off for a couple summers. I never told Gerard, my brother, because I was afraid he wouldn’t approve of us and make my life a living hell. So Pete and I were fooling around in the cabin the other day when everyone else was out, then Josh and Tyler come waltzing in and run away before we could even explain ourselves. So the next day Gee comes up to me and yells his lungs out, and ever since then, he’s been setting up really stupid and annoying pranks to ‘teach me a lesson’ or some bullshit. Anyways, today was the last straw, he fucking dyed my hair!” I say, pointing exasperatedly at my pink locks. “fucking dyed my hair!”

“Holy shit that’s awful he's acting that way, Mikey,” Ryan says softly, resting a hand on my arm in a comforting way.

“I know, and now to top things off, today when I lost it in the Mess Hall, Patrick heard and now hates me. He and Pete used to go to the same high school and apparently Patrick had... or has, a huge crush on him and thinks I’ve been screwing him behind his back for the whole time, even though I just met Patrick this summer!” I cry, letting my head crash down on my arms.

“Yikes, well I’m sure you can explain to Patrick you didn’t mean to hurt him and that you had no idea he liked Pete like that,” Ryan assures me. I lift my head a little bit and cast him a weak smile.

“Yea, I probably can,” I say.

“BABE! LOOK!” I hear Pete yell from behind me. I whip around and a hot pink haired Pete Wentz is running towards me grinning.

He rushes over and wraps his arms around my waist and hoists me up so we’re standing face to face. I run my hand through his freshly dyed hair and smirk.

I burst into giggles and he pulls me close into a tight hug.

“We’re invincible now, nothing he can do can hurt us,” Pete whispers into my ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, sorry for the wait, this move has been tricky.
> 
> anyways so i'm not really loving some of this fic so i'm going to go back and edit some minor scenes/lines/grammar so this is a bit better. i'll leave timestamps of when i updated each chapter in the ending notes so if you go back to reread of new readers join in they'll know why some parts are better than others.
> 
> i'm gonna try to update maybe tuesday or something? i wanna get this fic rolling, also please let me know if you like the second pov in the middle of this chapter? i wanna add more substance to the kids and other counselors so i hope you like it!
> 
> thanks for reading xx


	11. mr. misty eyed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sweats nervously bc this is late/short/unedited*

\--- joshs pov ---

"Look at the stars,” Tyler mumbles next to me.

We’re lying on the grass outside our tents.

The cabin left camp a little after breakfast and arrived at our site a little after lunch. Everybody just kinda hung out and set up camp until now. The boys are roasting marshmallows and telling shitty ghost stories.

“They’re nice,” I mumble, taking in the milky way, and all the burning hot stars lazily floating through space far above me.

“Hey,” He mutters, rolling over to look at me. I roll over too.

“Yea?” I ask.

“You said you wanted to talk right? I wanna talk too so whenever you’re ready just let me know,” He mutters, rolling back quickly so he doesn’t have to look me in the eyes. I feel my heart sag in my chest and follow suit, looking back up towards the night sky.

I know I’ve been distant lately, I can’t explain why I’m happy, I’m kinda dating Tyler, and I’m at camp. Something is just making me want to just not interact with anyone for a while. I understand and recognize I’m doing that, but I can’t make myself stop.

I let out a sigh and sit up, casting a glance over to the kids who are chucking still on fire marshmallows at each other. I groan and stand up walking over towards them.

“What are you idiots doing?” I ask sternly. They all quickly straighten up and shimmy into innocent looking poses.

“Just enjoying some snacks,” Jaime quips, stuffing a charred glob of fluff into his mouth.

“Uh huh,” I say knowingly.

“You should get to bed guys,” Tyler says from behind me and I jump at the noise, not expecting him to be there.

He rests a hand on my shoulder.

“Yea, it is fairly late,” I say, heart still racing from the scare.

With unanimous groans and curses, the boys get up and wander to their respective tents.

Tyler grabs the bucket of water from beside the fire and holds it waiting.

“You want one?” He asks, gesturing with his free hand to the bag of marshmallows.

I shake my head.

He shrugs and douses the fire in water, shrouding us in darkness. He drops the pail with a din of metal hitting rock and sluggishly wanders over to our tent.

I follow suit, anxiety filling me up from toes to the roots of my hair.

He lets the flap of the tent fall in front of my face before I can duck in after him and guilt starts joining my anxiety.

He's obviously pissed at me, which I can't blame, but I wasn't pissed when he was being indecisive and coy was I?

I toss open the tent door and crawl in and onto my sleeping bag.

Tyler is adjusting the lantern hanging from the two interlocking poles at the top of the tent. He glances down and me and throws me a weak smile.

He drops back down and crosses his legs on his mat.

“So what's going on?” He asks calmly. I avoid his glance and fidget with the zipper on my bag.

“I… I dunno, I just haven't been feeling right lately,” I confide.

“How so?” He asks cautiously.

“Like I want to talk and hang out but I just can't bring myself to do those things? Like I'm not doing it consciously, it just happens and before I can stop it there's a wall between me and the people I care about,” I blurt before I can stop myself. I throw my hands up to my mouth immediately after, cursing myself for confiding in a guy I barely know.

“Oh.” Is all Tyler says.

“Yea, oh.”

“That's ok Josh, that happens sometimes. Why do you think you're like the only person I talk to here?” He laughs.

I shake my head.

“No not like that. It's more intense, and once I recognize it there is no quick fix, I can't just force myself to talk to people because then I just feel worse because I've been so distant,” I say, tears pricking the corners of my eyes.

“Oh, Josh you know that's a symptom of depression?” Tyler asks nervously.

“No, I'm not depressed Tyler,” I scoff at the idea.

“Whatever you say, but you know I'm here if you ever need to talk ok?” Tyler says, reaching out and resting a hand on my forearm. I nod and look up at him with misty eyes.

“Come on man, gangsters don't cry,” He laughs wiping the tears from my cheeks.

I smile up at him, things are gonna be ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaa sorry this is late and short and probably has a lot of mistakes. this was kinda a "sophia drops all of her emotional baggage on her characters" kinda chapter so sry. also I'm writing this in study hall on my phone so SORRY for the mistakes and length. I'll upload something more this week I promise . Leave comments/kudos please they make me feel more inclined to write this lmao  
> xx


	12. emotional shitshow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the most fillery chapter you've ever read  
> //check the end for an apology/update//

\--- tylers pov ---

My eyes flutter open and hazy morning light washes around the tent. My arm is slung over Josh’s chest and my head rests next to his. His arms are wrapped tightly around my waist and his head is nuzzled into my neck. 

“Josh,” I whisper quietly. He grumbles something incoherent and nuzzles deeper into my neck, causing his stubble to tickle me. I let out a giggle and push his away. He sits up, rubbing his sleep deprived eyes and still resting on one arm. 

Warm light filters through the yellow nylon walls of our tent. 

We unzipped our sleeping bags during the night so we could cuddle. It’s so cozy, soft, and safe in here I never want to leave. I can hear the distant chirping of birds, the crisp morning air biting at our noses, and the rustle of the pine trees surrounding us.

“Morning sleepy head,” He says quietly, running a hand through his hair. It just makes his curls stick out more abnormally and I chuckle reaching over to mess with it.

As soon as my fingers lock into his curls he practically purrs and nudges up into the touch.

I gently pull him back down so he’s lying next to me and pull him flush to me, curling up against him.

“You ok?” He asks quietly. I nod gently into his shoulder and close my eyes, absorbing his woodsy scent.

“Perfect,” I mumble and place a small kiss on his neck. He chuckles and pulls me on top of him. I sit back on my knees and look down at his sleepy face.

“You’re such a cutie you know?” Josh asks, locking our fingers together and looking up at me. I blush and duck my head.

“Shuddup,” I mutter.

“Seriously shut the fuck up!” Someone shouts from a tent nearby. My eyes pop open in shock and Josh bursts into laughs.

“Go back to sleep!” Josh yells back. There's assorted grumbling from the other campers but eventually, the forest goes quiet again.

“Wanna help me make breakfast?” I ask.

“Sure,” Josh smiles down at me. I blush and sit up, forcing Josh to stand. 

He has to crouch over in order for his head not to whack the fabric ceiling of the tent.

I grab one of Josh's big hoodies from the ground and pull it on over my bed head.

Josh does an awkward little dance whilst he pulls on a pair of pajama pants and slips on his flip flops.

I grab my vans and pull them on before standing up and stumbling out of the tent.

Josh follows after me, tugging a snapback over his unruly curls.

We walk over to the fire pit and I begin setting up some kindling.

“I think Brendon hung the food bag over in one of those trees,” I say gesturing over to my left.

Josh gives me a thumbs up and ambles off in the direction I gave.

While he's off doing that I grab a lighter and start slowly forming a fire.

Things went well with Josh last night. After we had our heart to heart about what's been going on with him, we ending up snuggling and talking about anything and everything for most of the night. It was really nice, and the more I get to know him, the more I like him. Sure our first couple romantic encounters were messy and spontaneous but I genuinely feel like we might end up being more than a summer fling.

I'm jerked from my inner monologue but someone walking into the campground. 

“Hello?” I ask the mysterious person. They continue up the path until I can make out their red hair and soft features.

“Hi Tyler,” Patrick mumbles, coming over and taking a seat in one of the lawn chairs we assembled last night. 

His eyes look bloodshot and deep purple bags shade under them.

“You ok? What were you doing up?” I ask, standing up from the steadily growing fire and stretching.

“I decided to go for a walk since Dallon told me, there's a nice lookout over the river where you can see the sunrise really nicely,” He says.

“Was he right?” I ask, sitting down next to him in a chair.

“Yea, it was pretty nice,” He smiles, his eyes trained on an intangible location, lost in thought.

“So, how have you been doing recently?” I ask cautiously. His spine stiffens and he looks nervously at the other tents around us.

“I’m fine, just a little homesick I guess,” Patrick shrugs. I nod slowly, knowing he’s lying to me.

I hear a tent unzipping from behind us and see Ryan groggily stepping out, stretching towards the sky like a cat.

“Morning,” He smiles, before coming over and plopping down next to Patrick.

“Have any of you guys seen Mikey?” Brendon asks, poking his head out of the tent Ryan just came out of. We all exchange shrugs and eyebrow raises.

“Shit!” I curse jumping up.

“Do you think he would’ve just wandered off?” Ryan asks, suddenly looking more awake.

“I mean maybe?” Brendon says, scurrying out of his tent and over to us.

“Before we get ahead of ourselves let's check Vic and Jaime’s tent,” Patrick says calmly. Before he can even walk over, their tent flaps unzip and they stick their heads out. 

“What’s with all the commotion?” Jaime asks.

“Is Mikey in there?” Ryan asks.

“Nope, just us,” Vic says.

“Do you think he would’ve gone back to camp?” Brendon asks.

“He probably went to see Pete,” Patrick mutters spitefully under his breath.

We all turn to look at him. Ryan snaps his fingers and jumps up.

“You’re a genius Pat, thanks, dude,” He says, looking at me with hopeful eyes.

“Alright, I guess we’re cutting our trip short,” I say, still silently fuming over the missing kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heh hey. sorry i disappeared for like three weeks. schools been rough and i'm so stuck on this story it's ridiculous. like literally i know the ending but i don't know what to do next :( anyways i'm not giving up on this story, and i'm changing updates from every friday to just once a week so i can have some freedom for when i want to post. also i'll try to post more than once a week i swear but don't hold me to it. i've got bowling, gsa, homework, and cosplay so writing this fic is kinda falling lower and lower on my priority list. follow me on twitter for updates regarding this fic i guess, and again i'm so sorry.  
> please leave suggestions for the next couple chapters! ily all!


	13. delinquent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heh, sorry it's been like two months (see end of the chapter for an update). sorry,, please don't kill me :')  
> -  
> also sorry if the second half of this chapter seems off, i accidentally wrote it in mikeys pov first but than changed it, so my bad.

\--- petes pov ---

“Night Dallon,” I say, waving at the tall brunette. He waves back and we both turn to go our separate ways.

It’s a fairly clear night, you can see the stars for miles and the moon is shining so bright it feels like the sun still hasn’t fully set yet.

I work my way towards one of the empty cabins me and Tony and currently occupying. My feet squish across the field, which never really dries right, and away from the Mess Hall where some other counselors and I were hanging out.

I turn down past the washrooms and down the trail, the canopy of the trees blocking out the strong moonlight.

Suddenly I’m shrouded in inky darkness and I can hardly see what’s ahead of me. I pull out my flashlight and wack it against my leg a couple times until it flickers to light in my palm.

Its light illuminates a pair of eyes right in front of me and I screech and fall back, dropping the flashlight.

“Fuck, sorry!” A disembodied voice worries. I feel a cool hand graze against my arm before grasping my wrists and helping me up.

Rustling is audible until suddenly light fills the area around me and the voice.

It's in fact not just voice, but Mikey Way.

“What the fuck dude!?” I groan, rubbing my back where I fell.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you coming, I didn’t mean to scare you, I swear,” He blathers. I sigh and snake my arms around his waist pulling him into a hug.

“It’s fine, next time just like say something when you’re like three feet away from me,” I chuckle into his neck. He sighs out a breath of relief and melts into the hug, only for me to pull back,

“Wait, why the fuck are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be down in the trails for tonight?” I ask. Even with the dull light, I can see a harsh blush on his cheeks.

“Yea, but I really wanted to see you so,” He says sheepishly.

“You’re such a nerd oh my god,” I laugh, reaching down to grab his hand.

“Come on, I think Tony is still down hanging out with Debby and Jenna,” I say, starting to lead us down the trail towards my cabin.

\--

Mikey and I are curled up in my bed when my phone starts to buzz. We exchange a look but I shimmy out of his arms and walk over to the dresser where my phone lies.

“Hello?” I ask. A flurry of curses and obscenities hit my ear and I yank the phone back from my ear in surprise as a muffled yelling fills the cabin. We exchange a look and I cautiously put the phone back up to my ear.

“Yea Tony, he said he felt sick so he came back, don't worry Josh and Tyler know!” I say snappily into the phone.

Mikey shrinks back under my heavy duvet and pulls it up to his chin. This is not good.

I whisper yell something I don’t want Mikey to hear, then slam the phone back on the dresser.

“What's up?” He asks.

I turn to Mikey as he runs his hand through his short pink locks.

“Fucking, Tony saw us walking down here and tattled to Debby,” I groan.

Mikey shoots up in bed.

Gerard, he can take, but Debby will have our head if she finds out Mikey and I have been hanging out. She was there the morning he freaked out, but there was no evidence so she couldn’t do anything. This might be a different situation.

“Shit,” He groans, sitting up and yanking on his shirt from the floor next to the bed.

“I know, Josh and Tyler are gonna be so pissed dude,” I sigh, resting my head in my palm.

“What about Debby and Jenna, they'll probably kill us alive. It was one thing when it was rumors but now,” He cringes. I try to calm down and make sense of this situation.

“You've gotta act sick, I told them you're sick,” I explain worriedly. He nods and shimmies back under the covers, trying to look sickly.

Suddenly the door bangs open. Thankfully we're both fully clothed by this point, because in walks Debby and Jenna, Dallon following closely behind.

“What is going on?” Debby tells angrily, stomping her boot on the shitty wooden floor.

“Nice to see you too,” I say, ushering the group in.

“Don’t mess around please,” Jenna says softly, trying to calm Debby down.

“Well, we told you, Mikey was feeling awful so he decided it’d be better to come up here then stay down at the site,” I explain as calmly as possible.

“Hi,” Mikey says, lifting up his hand to wave limply, trying to appear as sick and weak as possible.

“Really, so Mikey decided it’d be best to hike almost an hour back to camp with no supervision at one am because he was feeling bad?” Debby asks, placing a hand on her hip.

“That does seem suspicious. Josh wouldn’t let him do that, he would’ve come up with him, or sent someone else,” Jenna admits. She and Debby exchange a look then turn back to us.

“I’m finding this story really hard to believe, especially since Mikey yelled to the entire camp the other day how you two hooked up recently,” Debby says, glaring at him.

“Mikey, you’re welcome to come spend the night in the infirmary with me. We can sit down to talk with Josh and Tyler tomorrow,” Dallon interjects for the first time. Mikey nods and cautiously pushes back the covers. He wobbles for extra effect and Dallon comes over to let him lean on him whilst Mikey tugs on his boots and hoodie.

“Pete, we’ll be arranging a Board meeting soon to discuss your current situation and where you stand at the moment,” Jenna says with a sympathetic look in her eye before ushering Debby, Dallon, and Mikey out of the cabin. Mikey takes one last glance behind him to see me standing in the now empty cabin looking shell shocked.

This is not what I had planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!! sorry this is so late and bad and not joshler. but it was my birthday yesterday so yay!! (im sixteen so holla) also i saw tøp in albany on the 25th as an early bday present so bless up boissss. 
> 
> ok but seriously i've had midterms, the usual depression and anxiety, and a bunch of other family shit happening so this fic has fallen particularly low on my list of priorities. midterms are over now and quarter three is starting next week so hopefully i'll have more time to actually update and work on this fic so i can fricking finish it ugh. i wanna start writing the second story in the series bc i have that like all planned out but we're not even a month into the summer in this fic so :^)))))))))))
> 
> anyways catch an update coming your way soon, thanks for sticking with me and check out my twitter pls :)))


	14. runs through your veins, straight to your brain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *crawls out of my cave to post this shitty chapter after like 5 months*  
> //check the end for updates//

\-- joshs pov --

Lights flicker dismally outside the infirmary’s dusty windows. After the stuff with Mikey was mostly sorted out, and he was taken back to the camp office I stayed back, feeling like shit.

The stuff he had said about being in love, and how nothing else really mattered but that one person I got to thinking about me and Tyler’s current situation.

I know it’s way too early to say I’m in love with a boy I’ve known for three weeks but, it’s not too early to say I really, _really_ like him.

We took a step back from the sexual part of the relationship and focused on getting to know each other but now every second I’m not around him all I can think about is him. He’s worse than nicotine.

I scuff my flip flop clad feet on the wood floor my legs are dangling over and sigh. 

Just as I’m about to stand from the bed and go to find the rest of my cabin I hear a curt knock on the door.

I whip my head over to see who’s there and see a mousey haired boy peeking his head in.

Tyler. _Fuck._

“Uh, is it a bad time?” He asks nervously, waiting in the doorway.

“No, er, it’s fine come on in,” I say, motioning him in and patting a spot on the bed next to me.

He shuffles over nervously and sits down on the bed, staring at his clasped hands in front of him.

“So, I overheard what Mikey said and I know we’re in a good-ish place right now so I kinda wanted to say something,” Tyler says quickly. I’m taken aback for a second but nod.

“I kinda wanted to say something too,” I say, steeling my gut and taking a deep breath.

“You can, um, go first,” Tyler says. I nod my head.

“Ok, so we’ve been together-ish for like three weeks right. I mean and I finally feel we’re both kinda on the same page, relationship wise. So, I was wondering if you maybe wanna make this thing-” I gesture between us awkwardly, “official?”

There’s a beat of silence and waves of regret and anxiety quickly wash over me.

“That’s almost exactly what I was thinking,” Tyler confides blushing a bit. He tilts his head up to look me in the eyes. 

My heart stops for a second as excitement pounds through me, overthrowing the anxiety that lied there only a second ago.

“I think I finally feel comfortable being with you, to be honest, and I know you want to actually spend time with me. Also, you’re really cute and I love being around you, so yea I wanna be official,” Tyler says excitedly.

“So, we’re boyfriends now?” I ask, starting to jitter with excitement. Tyler nods fast, biting his lip to hold back a smile.

I let out a happy giggle and lunge over to tackle him in a hug. He squeaks with surprise as we tumble backwards onto the bed.

I nestle my head into the crook of his neck as he wraps his arms around my waist.

“You smell nice, er, boyfriend,” Tyler says with a laugh.

“You smell like smoke and sweat, it’s endearing though,” I respond back, grinning into his shoulder.

“Wow, rude,” Tyler laughs, pushing me off him in a joking manner. 

I come back onto my knees and shuffle back so I’m leaning against the wall. 

“Comere’,” I say opening my arms and gesturing for Tyler to come into them. He crawls across the bed and sits criss-cross applesauce in between my knees.

I lean down and place my hands on either side of his lips, so my forehead is only centimeters away from his.

“Can I kiss you?” I ask. 

“Of course dog breath,” Tyler responds, locking eyes with me.

I smile at his silly nickname and then move my head forward slightly and gently press our lips against each other.

Tyler tilts his head so our noses aren’t uncomfortably pressed together and deepens the kiss.

I gently run my tongue across his lips, as if asking for permission for him to open his lips.

He abides and I slid my tongue into his mouth, meeting his and swirling it around a bit.

He pulls back his head and we both pant for breath for a second.

“I’m looking forward to being able to do that whenever I want now,” Tyler says with a devious smirk.

I bite my lip and smolder at him. Just as I’m about to lean in for another kiss Jenna barges in, a camper with a blood soaked shirt in train sniffling quietly.

Jenna stops dead in her tracks when she sees us and glares. Tyler and I quickly jump apart and I stand up, dusting my lap and looking around the room nervously.

“Move you idiots,” Jenna snaps, guiding the camper to the cot. She sits down nervously sniffling and holding a blood covered tissue to her oddly bent nose.

“Do you need any help? If not we’ll be on our way,” Tyler says, standing up and shuffling towards the door.

“No, Molly and I are fine, I just have to set her nose,” Jenna replies, hurrying around the room grabbing gauze and tape and anything else necessary for fixing a broken nose.

“Okay, then we’ll be off,” I say sweetly, waving shyly at the distressed teen on the cot.

“See you later, remember you have to talk to Debby about the Mikey situation later,” Jenna calls after us as we scurry out the door.

The wooden screen clatters behind us and we both burst into giggles as we stumble away from the infirmary. 

“That was a close call Dun,” Tyler giggles as we walk down back towards the cabin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hello! i know it's been a LONG time, but idk i always get my writing inspo when summers ending??? school starts for me in a couple days and my goal is to finish this piece before next summer so buckle up and please pester me on social media to write! also i don't really have a good apology as for why this is late except i've been busy and horribly sad these past like 4/5 months lol so oops also there's been a lot of family stress in my life so writing a fanfic keeps falling lower and lower on my priorities.
> 
> anyways i have lofty goals to finish this in the near future! check my twitter/tumblr for updates!
> 
> loveyouguys!

**Author's Note:**

> check out my social medias?:  
> tumblr: @/dad-dun  
> twitter: @/dad_dun
> 
> check out my beta readers?  
> @equifish  
> @smore2025


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